PURE NATURE HIGH UP ON TENERIFE

Pure Nature High Up on Tenerife offers an extraordinary experience for nature lovers and adventurers alike.

The island’s elevated landscapes, from the towering peaks of Teide to the verdant Anaga forests, showcase Tenerife’s diverse and untouched beauty. Here, visitors can immerse themselves in pristine environments, hiking through ancient trails and witnessing breathtaking vistas that reveal the island’s true natural splendor.

Brilliant Purple

With its 4 million visitors a year, the Parque Nacional del Teide is Spain’s most visited natural park and instantly the viewpoint of choice at the top of every visiting tourist’s list. This stretch of Tenerife above 2,200 metres is undoubtedly one of the most exotic and amazingly rich protected areas in Europe. A volcanic moonscape atop a colourful island. Basalt flows create the most whimsical shapes; the silence and space around and around the mountain is breathtaking.

This unique feature, along with its beauty, is the biotope for a considerable biological wealth. 168 protected plant species, including 58 endemic ones, find their breeding grounds in the natural park. Absolute highlights are the pyramidal red Tajinaste (Echium wildpretii) and the Guanche rose bush (Bencomia exstipulata). Above 2,400 metres, you will find endemic species such as Cistus osbaeckiaefolius, a scion of the sunflower family, an exclusive and barely visible yellow sunflower. So high above sea level grows the pearl of the park, the delicate and fragile Teide violet, a brilliant purple from the Viola family.

3,715 metres high

The natural park at Las Cañadas was declared a National Park by UNESCO on 21 January 1954. 13,571 hectares are added to a list of protected areas around the world. 99.3% of this area is owned by municipalities, 0.6% is owned by the government and 0.1% belongs to private individuals. It is fair to say that the vast majority of the land area belongs to the municipality of La Orotava.

The spectacular views of the park, the mineral landscape dominated by ochre and black, colour the plateau walled by the walls of the vanished super volcano. Volcanic raw lava contrasts with the vibrancy and cheerfulness of yellowish sands, lapilli and pómices. The sand collected once a year to sprinkle the sand carpets of La Orotava.

There are a number of theories about the geological origins of this region. The giant cone that stands on Las Cañadas is a stratovolcano standing atop a collapsed supervolcano. The ancient volcano disappeared by exploding, collapsing or by erosion of the volcanic cauldron. Experts do not yet agree on that. What is known is that over the centuries, secondary crater outcrops formed. The likely cause may be a blockage of the main crater, which reaches 3,715 metres.

La Corona

The two small craters are separated by a rocky alignment of Roques de García. This section, also called the peaks of Ucanca, is one of the most popular locations of the National Park and immediately the busiest place on Las Cañadas, pure nature high up on Tenerife.

In this area lie the two semicalderas, smaller craters formed in the Quaternary period. They are also called volcanic antiquities: Pico Viejo or Chachorra and this one from the Teide. The Pico Viejo also called the Montaña Chahorra is the older of the two and is 3,135 metres above sea level. Its crater opening has a diameter of 800 metres.

Teide is the younger of the two and is also called the crater of La Rambleta. The typical view was obtained from the last eruption in which a 150-metre-high cone was formed. This crown has an opening 80 metres in diameter and is logically called La Corona.

Perfumed Aromas

Remarkably, not everything on the plateau is dotted with rock massifs. Las Cañadas possesses a large area of flat land. Wind and water erosion have scoured the softer rocks flat for centuries. Dust and sand particles have filled in all crevices and bumps for millennia. Very fine siliceous dust was brought by the wind from the Sahara: it is estimated that between 25 and 40 grams of sediment per square metre and per year blew over from Africa. This at least gives an idea of the massive ‘size’ of supply of foreign substances that created soil deformation over the centuries.

The flora richness in this natural location was undoubtedly decisive in awarding the title of ‘protected natural park’. The initial impression of desolation and chaos changes when you look through organic eyes. From April to mid-June, there is an explosion of life and colour: flowers and shrubs come alive, the air fills with perfumed aromas, causing insects to begin their pollinating flights in abundance.

La Rambleta

Although the flora is omnipresent, the fauna is not doing as well. This is because the harsh high-altitude climate hinders the development of high-altitude animals. Vertebrates and winged animals are few in number. Hedgehogs and fire salamanders thrive there. Small rodents such as rabbits and hares can also survive there. The avifauna consists of only 14 species of which, among others, the rock dove, the swallow and the ruddy owl feel at home here. As well as the keep, an ever-whistling songbird.

In Cañada Blanca there is the Parador, the tourist information centre and a hotel of the same name where the best cyclists in the world do their altitude training every year. A little further east, for many tourists, lies the relief of visiting the Teide. On the south side of the Teide, at Los Blanquiales, the cable car starts that transports you to La Rambleta at an altitude of 3,550 metres. From there, with a permit in your pocket, you can reach Tenerife’s absolute peak on foot.

Up there, the whole world lies at your feet. Or at least the whole island, because you are actually at the highest point in Spain.