My first sighting of the horses is through the transparency of a bus window. Lined up in regimental order as tourists cluster around, taking photos and feeding them snatches of hay from the mounds on the ground.
I arrive in Saintes Marie De La Mer in the gloaming of the day, too. It is a sleepy town in mid-March, but normally in the Summer months it bustles with the buzz of tourism. It provides the gateway to the Camargue, a 72,000 hectare weltand, and a regional French national park, situated about 100km from Marseille in Southern France, and it is where these famous white horses find their home.
It feels as if I am the only foreign footstep to touch this historic town, but the influence of the horses is everywhere. A statue here, a Western-style clothing shop there, knick-knacks of wooden horse heads even line the shelves next to the French cheese in the grocery store.
It is these horses which have brought me here. Inside this historic wetland, their culture is what has shaped both the people of the Camargue, and the affluent tourism industry which thrives, and brings much-needed economy into the area.
A few days later, I find myself face-to-face with Tony, one of the historic Guardians of the Camargue. We arrive on his “Manade” to three white horses mowing his lawn.
Tony stands, leaning against one of his horses as we step out to meet him. Faint whispers of his morning on the farm strewn across his smile. We start by talking about the history of the horses, and why he has such a deep connection to them, and the land around him.
“These horses are very old, and you can tell because their shape looks the same as the ones in the cave paintings, but they have only been recognised as their own breed since 1978,” says Tony.
“Their size was much smaller then. Now, they have evolved to become unique to this land.”
As Tony and I sit, the heat of the day brings the first wave of mosquitoes to rest on our arms.
Tony continues to tell me a Guardian is primarily a “keeper of the bulls”.
While he does look after the horses, he is also in charge of raising the bulls for the famous Feria d’Arles, and Feria de la Mer, just two of the hundreds of bull fighting festivals which take place from April to October.
“Being a Guardian is something that you have in the genes, it’s more like a passion than a job.”
“As Guardians, we form strong connections to our horses, which help us look after the land and breed and look after the bulls. Our aim is to keep the bulls as natural as possible for the festival.”
The bull races are events which occur every summer across the region. Local razateurs (bull fighters) face these bulls, aiming to remove ribbons from their horns with a Le Crochet. These festivals first began in the 19th Century as a way to showcase provincial tradition.
A few hours later, we meet a real-life razateur, Fred, whose pathway into becoming a Guardian is rather different.
“My family moved here when I was very young, from Lyon. We used to go to a special event called a Ferrad. This is the time when you mark the bulls. My Father brought me to see it, and help if I could. During one visit, some of the older Guardians asked, do you want to ride the horse? I started to ride like this, and from then my passion was born, which has yet to die.”
Despite not being born into this tradition, Fred still developed an passion for the horses and ladcscape, beaome a Guardian through learning from others, such as Tony.
“When I was 14, there was no internet, no phone, so the only way to have fun was to go to the Manade and try to help. Now it’s totally different. Kids are more on phones.”
The festivals which take place each year also bring a thriving tourist economy to the Camargue. And it is these tourists who have kept traditions such as Fred’s bullfighting and Tony’s family farm alive in this way for so long.
“We need more now, you know, life has changed. You need to have the internet, and we need more money. Tourism has been a great thing, especially here in the Camargue, because it is a very beautiful place. It helps us deal with the increasing price of everyday life.”
“We try to have a good relationship with the tourists, because the Camargue so well known now, we have to defend this traditional place, and our traditions.”
As with anything, however, this behaviour has been one of evolution. Just as the horses had to mould to the landscape, its people have had to change their attitudes to suit the demands of our times.
Although it’s met with resistance, younger figures such as Tony and Fred who have worked hard to change the older generations, helping the community to understand and accept the prosperity visitors can bring.
Back in Saintes-Maries, as we lunch on goat’s cheese salad and eau gazeuse, Patrice, our willing guide and bridge into this world, says, “Before the arrival of tourism, the Camargue cowboys were a kind of shepherd who tended their herds of bulls. Their lives were very simple, but they were passionate about what they did.
“With the arrival of tourism, they were able to earn a better living, but their passion for the Camargue and its traditions remained intact.”
Patrice was one of the first photographers in the area, drawn down here in 1998 by the horses and the powerful subject matter they provided for a young photographer. After connecting with the tourism office, he started to visit and photograph Manades.
Since then he has forged strong connections with the Guardians, witnessing how tourism has changed the lives of the Camarguian people.
But there are forces working against the Camrgue. Rising sea levels, and significant changes to the water table have resulted in an increase in flooding, as well as changes to the concentration of salt in the water, which can have knock-on effects on wildlife.
Preservation, for the Guardians, is about finding a balance. Using what tools they have already developed to mitigate the rising sea levels.
“The main problem in the Camargue would be the water. The first thing is the sea level is just going up, and the Camaruge is very flat, if nothing is done, the Camargue will just be flooded in the future.”
In 1858, the first river Dike was built in the Camargue, and today these Dikes are an essential part of controlling water levels.
“For the next century, the idea will be just to build some more Dikes. When the waves are broken before the land, they just arrive on the shore very smoothly, so it means it’s slower to get into the Camargue, and man can manage the water level more efficiently.”
As the conversation continues, Fred reveals another hardship, one that not only the Guardians face, but one which has placed the Camarguian culture in general in jeopardy.
“The festivals are becoming harder to maintain because of safety rules. Our festivals need insurance because sometimes they release bulls in the streets, and if an onlooker gets hurt by one of these bulls, it can be a problem.
“Many of the insurance companies won’t take the risk, meaning there are fewer events, and if there is less events, we see fewer tourists.”
Unlike in Spain, where the onlookers are responsible for their own well-being, in France the legislation means, if someone is hurt, someone has to be responsible.
As Fred tells us, each year it becomes harder to find insurance companies willing to cover the risk.
Whilst to many, this may not be problematic, as Tony explains, for Guardians such as himself, the ones who own land, tourism is central to aiding in his care for the animals and land around him.
“If there are no more tourists, then the Guardian’s, and the Camarguian culture, is placed in danger”
Although they came at this lifestyle from different places, at the heart of being a guardian is passion. Both work to sustain their lifestyle, to fuel their desire to keep working on this land.
Tourism does not change its tradition. It only allows them to continue living, working and protecting their passions. It gives these European Cowboys the ability to uphold their archaic traditions, whilst almost allowing them to live in an ever-modernising and expensive world.
As the day progresses, early morning heat turns to the late afternoon shadows, Tony demonstrates to us some of his traditions and day-to-day practices. Mounted upon his stallion ‘Avenger’, he races out to herd the bulls. His small daughter dutifully assisted in all the areas her small hands allow her to, and Tony assures us that she, too, will become a Guardian when her time comes, and the tradition will continue.
Neither Tony nor Fred is just a Guardian. Like so many others who take on this role, they live something of a double life.
Tony is a nurse, and Fred is a water surveyor. Being a Guardian is not, for them, something they need to monetise. It is, as they said, a passion. In a time when the community is teetering on the edge, and social media is pushing people further and further into isolation, there is a lesson to be learned about the importance of community down here in the Camargue.
“Culture in the Camargue is not in danger. Because most of the people here want to keep things as they are now, all the traditional things like the costumes, the horses, the bulls.”
Aside from the Guardians, the horses, and the bulls, the Camargue is a community of people, many just like Patrice. People who have lived here are drawn by the culture and the lifestyle. Simply content with the quiet winter and booming summer.
Despite the hardships, the changing seasons and the increasingly technified world, this small corner maintains a sense of community. Everyone relies on everyone else in some way
A symbol that, now I know it, seems to silently appear everywhere.
Because in a world that moves faster each year, more connected, more transient, more alone, the Camargue lives on through people who still choose to belong. To the land, to each other, and to the traditions that shape them.
And here, in this fragile meeting point between past and future, the horses, the people and the culture remain. Not untouched by the modern world, but unwilling to let it define them.
About the Contributor
Iona is a freelance writer and audio producer based in London.
Photos, videos and audio were provided by Patrice Aguilar, who also runs photo sessions in the Camargue, Jemima Lowe and Iona Lowe.
Thank you to Tony and Fred for showing me inside this world.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
