The Emerald Lizard Trail in Muggio Valley, Ticino

Sunday, August 26th --  On Sunday we traveled 3 hours each way, walked 13 km and 5+ hours including over 700 altitude meters straight uphill, to get a look at ONE, one single one, of these emerald lizards (also known as European Green Lizard?), and this only by accident as Urs has a good eye. But that one lizard made my day by posing prettily for my photos...

The Ticino Tourism Office together with the WWF created the Emerald-Trail to make this region accessible to the public: One of three regions in the Ticino where this apparently rare lizard "abounds". I might have been slightly miffed if we hadn't seen any at all. But even though most of the trail is thick, dense, dark forest (great on a hot day, but maybe the reason why we didn't see much of this lizard), the views once we got to the clearing at the top of the first steep 600m climb made it worth the effort.

The trail took us across the border into Italy, and to a popular Italian hostel (Rifugio Prabello) much more easily accessed from the North (Italian) side as proved by the many people enjoying Sunday afternoon refreshments when we got there, surprisingly many as no one else had been on our trail coming from the Swiss side. From here we had sweeping views to the North (Italy) and we could see all the way to the villages clustered along the shores of Lake Como.

On our way back to the Swiss side we passed the former Swiss border post at the Bonello pass, which apparently played an important role here during the war: i.e. this was a place where contraband was smuggled across the border on foot.

We didn't quite complete the loop returning to the Muggio valley: Whereas we had started in the charming village of Cabbio, we ended the tour one village over in Muggio (same name as the valley) where we treated ourselves to a cool drink before boarding a small Postbus for a spectacular ride out of the valley on the opposite side, where the roads were so tight and narrow, the bus had to repeatedly back up to turn the corners, and could just barely make it through the narrow village lanes. 

The villages of the Muggio Valley, Switzerland

From the start of our tour in Cabbio -- at the church -- we saw across to Muggio, the next village up the valley, where we had decided to end the tour instead of returning to Cabbio

Very old community fountain in Cabbio

3 km to the back of the valley is a little hamlet called Uggine

We kept a keen eye out for emerald lizards, but only ever caught glimpses of common wall lizards scooting back into clefts in the rock walls. Maybe it was too shady.

We saw a lot of these common wall lizards. Also fun to photograph.

After 3 km along a level paved road, we reached the real "Emerald Trail" (Sentiero Smeraldo) and it's uphill all the way from now on....(Alpe del Corno is where we saw the lizard, and Rifugio Prabello is the hostel on the ridge at the Swiss-Italian border)

Here at Alpe del Corno was where Urs spotted the Emerald Lizard in the rocks on the left. I was glad we at least found one!

Not quite sure if this is officially called an Emerald Lizard or a European Green Lizard

 

Enjoying the sense of satisfaction after having climbed straight up for an hour. Also, Near Alpe del Corno is where we crossed the border into Italy (on the right, border stone)

The forest was very dense and dark, but at least comfortable for the steep climb.

On this upper clearing we get a wonderful view across the dense forests of the Muggio Valley

To the East, looking toward Italy and the mountains East of Lake Como

This high trail which I loved, runs below the rock formation called Sasso Gordona, and goes all the way to the Hostel called Rifugio Prabello perched on the ridge between Italy and Switzerland

Some cool rock formations on Mount Sasso Gordona

Surprisingly lots of people up here at the Rifugio Prabello, perched on the ridge between Switzerland and Italy. Lots of Italian people come up here from the North... along a wide and not-so-steep road.

Looking North into Italy to Lake Como. I believe the city below is called Ossuccio

After coming back onto the Swiss side of the border at the Bonello Pass, this is the old Swiss Border Post. Apparently lots of contraband crossed through here during the war.

To close the loop, there was also a trail on the other side of this small valley, back to Cabbio (village in this picture) but we descended on this side, so we could end at the next village over, Muggio.

We had enough time to walk through the three streets of Muggio and grab some refreshments before heading back out of the Muggio Valley by Post Bus.

Still time for some refreshments before catching the bus here in Muggio

Church in Muggio, and at the back is Monte Generoso with the newly-built Mario Botta Restaurant. We haven't been up there yet.

We took a different way back, on the other side of the Muggio Valley, where only the small bus runs as the streets are very narrow. But loads of fun.

From our bus ride on the other side of the Muggio Valley we caught a glimpse of Mount Sasso Gordona, the unusual peak at the very back, where we passed below the cliffs before reaching Rifugio Prabello.

Loop Trail called the "Emerald Trail" which officially returns to Cabbio but we walked out on the Muggio side.

This tour actually took us over 5 hours because we took an "unofficial" route on the way down and lost the trail....