"Sado Estuary shows several points of contact between land and water, establishing the transition between the last mountain of the region, the Arrábida mountain, and the plains of Alentejo. A large size formation that includes a section of river, marshlands, low tide and sand banks, salinas - the majority of which deactivated, beaches and coastal dunes as well as plantations, pine woods and agricultural areas. In the Dunas de Troia Botanical Reserve, natural dune ecosystem, there are endemic species with priority character.
The estuary has an internationally recognized scientific value as BPZ (Bird Protection Zone) and is also a nesting and wintering place for numerous birds, especially waders. This area received more than 20,000 wintering birds and about 265 different species were found.
This area is home to the bottlenose dolphin - the only resident cetacean population that uses the estuary as feeding and mating grounds in Portugal - and holds an undeniable ichthyological importance acting as a maternity for several fish species.
Despite scarce population in a significant part of its rim, the Sado Estuary Natural Reserve (23.160 ha) holds countless testimonies of past human presence - Roman ovens in Herdade do Pinheiro and the Phoenician Abul factory to which we can add the Roman salt complex situated in the vicinity of Tróia."
 

Adaptation; by: Natural.PT