Réserve Naturelle Nationale de Carlaveyron

Formed essentially of siliceous and crystalline rocks, the Aiguilles Rouges constitute a privileged observatory, facing the glaciers and the summits of the Mont-Blanc massif.

Set in a glacial amphitheater, the Carlaveyron nature reserve is like an aquatic garden made up of streams, lakes, marshes, peat bogs and "gouilles", the local name for small bodies of water.
The upper part is reserved for the glaciers that have shaped the plateau.
Humidity and altitude determine the implantation of a specific and rare flora. Peat bogs and low marshes are home to the Alpine cordulia, a dragonfly that loves high altitude peaty environments where the drosera grows, the narrow-leaved ribbon plant or the Magellanic sedge, a plant rarity found in France only in Savoie and Haute-Savoie. It is also the territory of the red frog and the alpine newt which, during the reproduction period, puts on its nuptial livery, with a fiery red belly, and returns to its pond to lay its eggs every two years.
The sector of La Vogealle is favourable to the presence of the black grouse which likes the mosaics of environments where bilberry moors, rhododendrons and dry alpine grasslands follow one another. During the summer months, ibex and chamois feast on blueberries and drink from the Aiguillette lake.
In the extension of the Aiguilles Rouges nature reserve, on the north-western flank, the beech-fir forest of the Diosaz gorges shelters rare and threatened species. It is in the humid valleys, the shaded ravines and the gneiss rocks covered with moss that the lynx cohabits with the wood grouse, the golden eagle and the three-toed woodpecker.
This site of medium and high mountains is a real jewel which offers a still preserved nature to discover all year long.