other rifts are torn open in the future.
The forces at work deep within the Earth can scarcely be imagined. Every single piece of rock throughout the Canary Islands once existed in a molten state. Consider the energy needed to melt one small stone, and multiply that to imagine the energy required to melt everything in the island chain, as well as the immense amount of rock beneath the sea that supports them all!
El Teide on Tenerife is often seen above the clouds from La Gomera and El Hierro
Over time huge amounts of volcanic material were piled high, but erosion has led to great instability. During recent geological time vast chunks of the islands have collapsed into the sea, creating features such as El Golfo on El Hierro, the Caldeira de Taburiente on La Palma, and the Orotava valley on Tenerife. With each catastrophic collapse, tsunamis devastated places around the Atlantic Ocean. Geologists predict that similar collapses could occur in the future on the Cumbre Nueva on La Palma or the north face of El Teide on Tenerife.
Wildlife
Plants and flowers
While the northern hemisphere was in the grip of an Ice Age, the Canary Islands were sluiced by rainstorms, with powerful rivers carving deep, steep-sided barrancos into unstable layers of ash and lava. As the landmasses emerged from the Ice Age the Canary Islands dried out and the vegetation had to adapt to survive. Some species are well adapted to semi-desert conditions, while on the highest parts of the islands, laurisilva cloud forests are able to trap moisture from the mists and keep themselves well watered. Laurisilva forests once spread all the way round Mediterranean and tropical regions, and one of the best remnants now crowns La Gomera, where it is protected in a national park.
Clockwise from top left: Prickly pear fruit; Canarian lavender; Canarian tagasaste tree
Canary pines flourish on high, dry mountainsides, sometimes in places where nothing else grows. Almost every pine you see will have a scorched trunk, but they regenerate surprisingly well after forest fires. Beware of the long pine needles on the ground, as they are slippery underfoot. Canary palms also flourish in dry places, and in the past every part of the tree had a use; today they provide delicious miel de palma, or palm honey. Every so often dragon trees occur, the last surviving descendants of the ancient prehistoric forests. They have been decimated in the wild but prove popular in gardens.
Tagasaste trees are often found in dense plantations, always in places where livestock are grazed. They grow with little water, yet have a high nutritional content and are regularly cut for animal fodder. In recent years they have been exported to Australia. Junipers (sabinas) are common; fruit and nut trees have been established, including apples, oranges, lemons, bananas, almonds, figs and vines. The introduced prickly pears are abundant, not so much for their fruit, but for raising cochineal beetles, whose blood provides a vivid red dye.
Bushy scrub is rich and varied, including sticky-leaved cistus and a host of species that walkers should learn to identify. These include bushy, rubbery tabaibal and the tall cardón, or candelabra spurge. Both have milky latex sap, as does tangled cornical, with its distinctive horned seed pods, which creeps over the ground and drystone walls. Aulaga looks like a tangled mass of spines and is often found colonising old cultivation terraces in arid areas. Aromatic, pale green incienso is a bushy plant that, with salado, grows densely on the arid lower slopes of the islands. The fragrant Canarian lavender usually grows in arid, rocky, stony areas among other scrub species. Few of the plants have common English names, but all of them feature so often that they should be learned.
Flowers grow all year round, but visitors in spring and early summer will be amazed at the colour and wealth of flowering plants. Many are Canarian endemics, and even trying to compile a shortlist would be pointless. Anyone with a particular interest in flowers and other plants should carry a specific field guide, in English. Try Native Flora of the Canary Islands by Miguel Ángel Cabrera Pérez, Editorial Everest or Wild Flowers of the Canary Islands by David Bramwell and Zoë Bramwell, Editorial Rueda.
Animals
The giant lizards of El Hierro were rescued from the brink of extinction and are now being conserved
As befits remote islands created in relatively recent geological time, the main animal groups to colonise the land were winged creatures, insects and birds. The largest indigenous land mammals were bats. Large and small lizards also arrived, possibly clinging to driftwood. The laurisilva cloud forest is home to the laurel pigeon, while the rock pigeon prefers cliffs. Buzzards and kestrels can be spotted hunting, while ospreys are struggling. Ravens and choughs are common in some places. There are several varieties of pipits, chaffinches, warblers and chiffchaffs. One of the smallest birds is the kinglet, a relative of the goldcrest. There are canaries, which have nothing to do with the name of the islands, and parakeets that add a flash of colour. The islands attract plenty of passage migrants, as well as escapees from aviaries. The coastal fringes are colonised by gulls, but it is best to take a boat trip to spot shearwaters or storm petrels, as they spend most of their time on open water. Boat trips are also the way to spot a variety of dolphins and whales.
Once the Guanche people arrived and colonised the islands over two thousand years ago, the forests suffered as much from clearance as from grazing by voracious sheep and goats. Following the Conquest in the 15th century, the Spaniards brought other domestic animals; of these the cats had a particularly devastating impact on the native wildlife, practically wiping out giant Canarian lizards, which have only recently been rescued from the edge of extinction. The largest of these lizards are on El Hierro, while the other islands have smaller species. Rabbits chew their way through the vegetation and appear regularly on Canarian menus.
National parks
The Canary Islands contain a handful of national parks and many other protected areas. The Parque Nacional de Garajonay is in the middle of La Gomera, encompassing the highest parts which are densely covered in laurisilva forest. The whole island of El Hierro has been designated as a World Biosphere Reserve. Other protected areas on both islands include Parque Rural (Rural Park), Parque Natural (Natural Park), Paisaje Protegido (Protected Land), Reserva Natural Especial (Special Nature Reserve), Monumento Natural (Natural Monument), and so on. Prominent notices usually tell walkers when they are entering or leaving these areas. Very little territory lies outside one of these places! There are several visitor centres where more information can be studied, and where interesting literature is on sale.
The Fortunate Isles
Myths and legends speak of ‘The Fortunate Isles’, or ‘Isles of the Blessed’, lying somewhere in the Atlantic, enjoying a wonderful climate and bearing all manner of fruit. The rebel Roman general Sertorius planned to retire there, while Plutarch referred to them many times, although Pliny warned ‘these islands, however, are greatly annoyed by the putrefying bodies of monsters, which are constantly thrown up by the sea’. Maybe these scribes knew of the Canary Islands, or maybe they were drawing on older Phoenician or Carthaginian references. Some would even claim that the islands were the last remnants of Atlantis.
The Gaunches, often described as a ‘stone-age’ civilisation, settled on the Canary Islands well over 2000 years ago, and Cro-Magnon Man was there as early as 3000BC. No-one knows where the Guanches came from, but it seems likely that they arrived from North Africa in fleets of canoes. Although technologically primitive, their society was well ordered, and they had a special regard for monumental rock-forms in the mountains.
The Guanches fiercely resisted the well-armed Spaniards
