The Petit-Rhône dike

The Petit-Rhône is an arm of the Rhône delta which marks the administrative boundary between the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Occitanie regions, between the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône and Gard, and more symbolically between the Camargue gardoise and the great Camargue. It separates from the Grand Rhone north of Arles to reach the Mediterranean Sea near Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. The Sauvage ferry, the Sylvéréal bridge and the Fourques bridge ensure the crossing of the Petit-Rhône.

On the edge of the Petit-Rhône, the estate covers about 21 ha. While he was a farmhouse in an area hostile to the eighteenth century, Francis Joseph of Avignon d’Arlatan had built the first building. The estate underwent significant agricultural development during the industrial era and in the 19th century became a major center for irrigated viticulture. Louis Noilly Prat, a rich merchant from Marseille, brought his touch of modernity in the 1890s: electric lighting, central heating, running water.

Rice farming has been present in the Camargue since the post-war period. Complex, this culture follows several stages: lifting, tillering, bolting, return and flowering. The land is flooded to promote the germination of rice grains and prevent the proliferation of fungi. Rice farming therefore requires freshwater irrigation and extensive drainage to develop the saltiest land. Huge amounts of water between the two arms of the Rhône (400 million m3 per year) are needed.

The mild climate of Camargue and the abundance of fish such as mussels, wolves, shads make the delta a great fishing spot. Catfish have developed abundantly in the Rhone, there are certainly the largest specimens in Europe. The catfish are therefore freshwater fish that average 1.5 m long but can reach 2.73 m. In the Petit-Rhône, a few kilometers from the Sylvéréal bridge, some fish exceed 2 m 60 and weigh more than 100 kg.

Le cheval Camargue est une race très ancienne (1978) et descendrait du cheval préhistorique de Solutré. Symbole de la Camargue, avec une robe gris-blanc, des oreilles courtes et une crinière hirsute, il est petit, environ 1,45 m au garrot. Son poil sombre de naissance prend sa couleur définitive blanc-gris vers 4 ans. Elevé en Camargue, il est le compagnon du gardian et l’outil de travail pour l’élevage des taureaux. Les critères d’élevage et de reproduction sont stricts pour préserver sa race.

The Camargue was classified as a Biosphere Reserve in 1977 by UNESCO. Between these folds still partly wooded, are divided lowlands occupied by lagoons lined with salt steppes, marshes and ponds. The agricultural lands are composed of wet meadows and grazers dedicated to the grazing of bulls and horses, old marshes converted into rice paddies of lagoons designed for the exploitation of salt and vegetable crops and viticulture on the dunes.

Sylvéréal means "royal forest" because there was a pine forest between Sylvéréal and Albaron. The Sylvéréal Bridge connects the Petit and Grande Camargue, between Gard and Bouches-du-Rhône. Crossing the Petit-Rhône was done through floating boats linked to each other until the construction of a bridge that was destroyed during the Second World War, a ferry then ensured the relay between the two departments until the construction of the current bridge in 1956.