Treasure in Tenerife: lunar landscapes and unique wildlife experiences

The wildlife and landscape of Tenerife are so magnificent that the beaches and night clubs pale in comparison. It may have been the resorts that attracted you to the Canary Islands in the first place, but if you give them half a chance, the flora, fauna and geography will steal your heart.

As the largest of the Canaries, Tenerife’s coastline stretches out for 350km. The impressive shoreline is ideal for surfing, horse riding and, of course, sun bathing.

Tenerife Coastline, Spain by Jose Mesa

Put on your walking shoes

Further land inwards, a good pair of walking boots will come in handy as you’ll be tempted to foray into tropical-forest and volcanic lava. Almost 200 km² of the island is covered by the dramatic Teide National Park, which consists of 80% of the world’s volcanic formations. Over 37 marked walking tracks snake through rough badlands, past volcanic pipes, cones and smoothly twisted rock formations called pahoehoe and lajial lava. If you’re up for a climb, head to the northern end of Teide National Park where you’ll find the highest summit: Mount Teide. The park actually owes its name to this 3718m peak, which famously casts the biggest shadow on the sea worldwide. It’s a live volcano but don’t worry, it hasn’t erupted since 1909.

Unique species of Tenerife

Teide National Park is home to 14 plant species that don’t grow anywhere else on earth and 70 species of spiders, beetles and other invertebrates that have never been spotted anywhere else. But these rather wonderful little creatures aren’t the only endemic fauna of the island. The park also is the only home of the Canary Island Lizard, the Canary Island Wall Gecko and the Canary Island Skink.

If you’re into bird watching, keep an eye out for Blue Chaffinches, Bolle’s and Laurel Pigeons, tiny Tenerife Goldcrests, Crowned Cranes, Berthelot’s Pipits, Yellow Legged Gulls, Southern Grey Shrikes, Hoopoes and Canarian subspecies of Chiffchaffs, Blue Tits, Robins, Kestrels and Grey Wagtails as well as Atlantic Canaries.

Unexplored Guanche sites

As if this isn’t exciting enough, there also are hundreds of unmarked and unexplored archaeological sites with remains from the Guanches (the indigenous inhabitants). If you’re lucky enough to stumble upon one of these sites, admire what you see and do take lots of pictures, but please leave it exactly as you found it. Even taking just a small souvenir is plunder!

The Guanches are enveloped by mystery. All we know is that they migrated from North Africa to Tenerife sometime between 1000 BC and 100 BC and that they brought wheat, barley and domesticated animals such as dogs, goats, pigs and sheep with them.

Camels and Gorillas

The camels weren’t introduced to the island until after the Spanish Conquest, between the end of the 15th Century and the beginning of the 16th Century. But when you visit the Camel Park near Los Cristianos and Playa de las Américas, you can see they’ve really taken to the island.

If the Camel Park sounds exciting to you, wait till you hear this: the largest all male troop of western lowland gorillas in the world is based in Villa Gorilla on Tenerife. The natural habitat for these gorillas consists of the rainforests of equatorial Africa, but zoo Loro Parque has managed to recreate the right environment in Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife. Gorillas tend to live in groups, but they usually emigrate from their natal troop when they grow up. When single males can’t attract enough females to form their own troop, they sometimes form an all-male troop. This is the situation that has been recreated in Villa Gorilla, the 3500 m2 area in Loro Parque that is reserved for the seven bachelor friends.

In March this year, the zoo keepers and vets of Loro Parque in Puerto de la Cruz left no stone unturned to celebrate the 40th birthday of the eldest statesman of the group: Schorsch. This is a very respectable age among gorillas, as only around 2 per cent of males in captivity reach this age. Schorsch, is only a couple of months older than the zoological park that he calls his home – Loro Parque will celebrate it’s 40th anniversary on 17th December 2012. If you want to escape Britain’s brass monkey weather this winter, book a flight to Tenerife for December and go ape at the zoo!

Experience this extraordinary beach destination for yourself. Prices for one way flights to Tenerife start at £51.49pp this January with Fly Thomas Cook.

Tags: blue tits, canaries tenerife, canary island, endemic fauna, flora fauna, half a chance, jose mesa, kestrels, little creatures, mount teide, rock formations, shrikes, species of spiders, tenerife teide, volcanic formations, volcanic lava, wagtails, walking boots, walking shoes

Category: Islands, Islands