The Canary Islands surprise with their diverse and incredibly fascinating vegetation.
Even though Tenerife is just a small island covering 2,034 km2, it is home to a surprising ecological diversity thanks to its special environmental conditions: the Island's abrupt topography affects its local weather conditions, leading to a great variety of microclimates resulting in many different natural habitats. You can clearly see this in the Island's vegetation. The flora is rich and varied, with some 1,400 higher plant species and the natural parks are mesmerizing with their luscious greens and lights games.
Anaga Rural National Park is a Biosphere Reserve close to Santa Cruz de Tenerife that has succeeded in preserving its natural assets quite exceptionally. The beautiful precipitous mountain chain full of sharp peaks are mindblowing.
The deep valleys and ravines that cut across it eventually reach the sea, forming a series of beaches where you can take a refreshing dip.
The hike “Paisaje Lunar“ which is also called "Lunar landscape“ is an easy and fantastic walking tour (about 4 hours) in the pine tree forest in the south of Tenerife. You really can enjoy some solitude on this hike as you rarely encounter other hikers along the way. The fast-changing vegetation zones are incredible. On our hike, we walked through the fog, light rain, and bright sun. The hike to the lunar landscape Paisaje Lunar starts near Vilaflor one of the largest mountain villages on the island.
The Roques de Garcia is probably the most visited natural attraction on the Canarian Island of Tenerife. Here however you have great views of the Cañadas del Teide - the great plain of Llano de Ucanca - and of Pico, Teide lures thousands of visitors.
Arriving on La Gomera I felt reminded of a Jurrasic Park movie or Lord of the Rings scene. The island's landscape is a lot wilder and mountainous and with its dense, intense green laurel forests, which crown the center rim of the island it feels like a time travel to a land before our times.
The laurisilva, which grew in abundance millions of years ago, are now few and far between and found in only a few places in the world. One of these places is in the Canary Islands, and in particular in the protected 4,000 hectares Garajonay National Park, a place where natures continue to reign. They're 25, 30 meters tall, incredibly ramose, with branches winding and weaving around each other covered and coated in a thick green moss that collects the mist and shines in manifold colors.
You need to discover these forests with all scents. You need to touch and you need to listen. The island doesn't only seem about what you see but more how you experience it by shutting off the world you know for a while. This full scented experience once brought Christopher Columbus to these shores.
In 2012 there was a huge forest fire that had a heavy impact on parts of the Garajonay National Park. Here, almost a fifth of its 3,984 hectares was razed to the ground. Park director Angel Fernandez suggests that the primary cause of the destruction was a move away from agriculture nearby, with the highly flammable plants of abandoned farmland bordering the Garajonay setting its neighbor alight. It almost feels like you are walking through a cemetery of trees in some areas where the park is slowly recovering from the heavy impact of the fire.
With the help of time and a healthy ecosystem, it should recover stronger than before. You hardly see any other traffic traveling around La Gomera on its two "motorways" and if you do you better be sure to maneuver your car carefully to pass each other on the narrow roads.
In many ways, it's the island most unaffected by the Spanish conquest of the 15th century, with a landscape dominated by deep barrancos (ravines).
Fun Fact - They also explain how the local whistling language of "el silbo" came about.
According to the silbo expert Ortiz, historically, there were three ways to communicate in La Gomera "The donkey, the path and silbo."
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Great photos!
Thank you!!!