Dear guests of Sardenya, welcome to Sardinia’s very own Jurassic Park – or rather, “Jarassic” Park!
Sa Jara Manna (“The Great Giara”) is the name of the vast prehistoric plateau that dominates the Marmilla landscape, rising 600 meters above sea level and stretching over an impressive 45 square kilometers, brimming with archaic – and at times lunar – scenery.
Its story began between 20 and 25 million years ago, when the sea still covered these lands and the first sedimentary rocks began to form. The masterpiece was completed 2.7 million years ago, when an enormous outpouring of magma from the Sa Zepparedda and Sa Zeppara Manna volcanoes crystallized over time into what is now known as “the island within the island.”
Today, the Giara is a wild, primeval oasis that shelters a unique floral and faunal habitat, so precious that it was declared a Site of Community Importance in 1995.
No dinosaurs here, thankfully – but two crustacean species whose lineage has remained unchanged for 200 million years: the indomitable Lepidurus apus lubbocki brauer and the resilient Triops cancriformis schaff, quietly enjoying life in temporary ponds known as paulis.
But the true stars of this extraordinary natural paradise are without doubt the legendary Giara Horses – a native breed of around 700 individuals roaming free in what is the only wild horse colony in Europe.
And if all this still isn’t enough to make you feel transported to a distant era, the 24 nuraghi scattered across the plateau – including the Bruncu Madugui, the most imposing protonuraghe in Sardinia – and another fifty perched on the slopes and in the valleys will do the trick.
To complete the picture, there are a full 7 kilometers of Roman road, the longest surviving stretch on the entire island.
