Waterfall on the Rio Arazas in Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, Pyrenees, Spain

© David Santiago Garcia/Cavan Image

Gateway to Iberia. Rio Arazas, Pyrenees, Spain

Striking in any season, but particularly when the summer sun stretches into the autumn, the Pyrenees have served as a natural border between the Iberian peninsula and the rest of Europe since the earliest civilisations. This stunning photograph was taken in the Ordesa y Monte Perdido national park on the Spanish side, right in the centre of the mountain range.

Boasting sheer cliffs and deep, verdant valleys, this Unesco World Heritage Site is a photographer’s dream, with a landscape marked by remarkable geological landforms and drastic elevation changes of the Pyrenees. The region is home to several species that can only be found here, including the Pyrenean chamois and the Pyrenean desman, or water mole. Sadly, the mammal considered the most rare and important in the region, the bucardo or Pyrenean ibex, went extinct in January 2000, despite preservation efforts.