Gorges de la Jonte and Vulture Reserve

The Gorges de la Jonte is a spectacular canyon running between Meyrueis and Le Rozier in the Lozère and Aveyron departments of Occitanie, where the Jonte River has cut 300-metre limestone cliffs through the Causse Méjean plateau to meet the Gorges du Tarn at their shared confluence. Less visited than the Tarn gorge immediately to the north, the Jonte offers a more intimate scale of canyon landscape with fewer road-day crowds and an exceptional additional attraction: the cliff faces above the river are home to one of France's most successful wildlife reintroduction stories. Griffon vultures, absent from the Massif Central for over a century due to persecution and poisoning, were reintroduced to the Jonte and Tarn cliffs in 1981 through a project coordinated with Spanish breeding programmes. Today the colony numbers over 1,000 birds — one of the largest griffon vulture populations in France. Black vultures (the rarer and larger species) were added in 1992 and now number around 60 individuals. The Belvédère des Vautours observation centre at Meyrueis is the key visitor facility: a clifftop platform with powerful fixed telescopes and a visitor centre that includes live video feeds from nest cameras on the cliff faces — allowing intimate views of chick rearing that are otherwise impossible. From late morning when thermals develop, vultures with wingspans of up to 2.8 metres circle the cliffs in groups, occasionally descending to feeding stations below. The gorge road (D996) runs through the canyon for 22 km, passing cave house formations, dramatic viewpoints, and the ancient Dolmen de Ferrussac. Kayaking hire is available at Meyrueis for a river-level perspective of the cliffs and birds.