Our last walking route I had planned for us in
Tenerife was to see the famous Paisaje Lunar or ‘Lunar Landscape’. I thought I
have seen so many outlandish, strange landscapes around the Teide volcano that
I couldn’t imagine what could be more lunar landscape-y! Well, seemed like I
was in for a treat.
The route starts literally in the middle of
nowhere. You have to drive a bit out of the small village of Vilaflor, situated
on 1450m above sea level, on the TF-21 road. At about km 66, at the very end of
a sharp turning point, you will notice a dirt road. It may or may not be
closed. If you’re lucky and can drive through it will save you about 45 minutes of walking. Keep driving until you find a tiny lay-by and wooden sign posts uphill
to the left.
Due to the highly eroding nature of the area it is
not encouraged to walk amongst these slender shapes of white sand. They are
environmentally protected in order to preserve them as long as it’s possible.
This is a very easy trail, suggested even for
families. The 9km walk takes about 4 hours to complete (13km if you
leave your car at the beginning of the dirt road). There’s only about 450m
level difference on the whole walk.
After a few minutes you will come to a T-junction
where you have a choice to make. It is a circular route so you can do the walk
in either direction. We turned left and followed the red-yellow-white coloured
markings on the path edged with volcanic stones through the forest.
It was the perfect second day walk after climbing
the Teide. We strolled under the bright green Canary pine trees (which can only
be found on the Islands) breathing the fresh, clean air and enjoying the
scenery around us. The mountains provided a perfect backdrop.
We finally arrived to the aim of our walk, the
Lunar Landscape. From our vantage point we gazed down at the white turfs of
pumice with wonder. This ‘moonscape’ was formed about 500 000 years ago when
all the side products of the volcanic eruptions such as cinders, pumice and
sediments fell in the ravine and got trapped in there. This thick layer all molded
together while cooling down, just to be covered again with another layer of
material which was harder and more resistant to erosion. Over hundreds of
years the natural elements sculpted strange formations, similar to Los Roques de Garcia. What we had in front of us was unlike anything we’d ever seen. The
Lunar Landscape seems like a striking contrast to the green forest and the blue
sky.
Due to the highly eroding nature of the area it is
not encouraged to walk amongst these slender shapes of white send. They are
environmentally protected in order to preserve them as long as it’s possible.
This is a very easy trail, suggested even for
families. The 9km walk takes about 4 hours to complete (13km if you
leave your car at the beginning of the dirt road). There’s only about 450m
level difference on the whole walk.
Enjoy.
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