La Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain
Our second day in the Canary Islands was spent exploring what in my opinion is the most interesting island in the group… La Gomera. This island, located in the western region of the archipelago, is an ancient volcanic structure that has desert-like conditions in the lowlands, but is covered with a magnificent rain forest in the highlands. The forest is mostly incorporated into the Parque Nacional de Garajonay, and is now a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. The park is known for its amazing flora and includes 10,000 acres of dense forest rising to 5,000 feet (1,500 m). Since the Canary Islands lie very close to northern Africa, which is only 60 miles (100 km) to the east of the archipelago, one would expect great similarity within the flora and fauna of the two lands. However, the cloud forest of La Gomera is composed primarily of eerie, twisted, moss-cloaked laurisilva (laurel) trees, whose nearest relatives are found in southern India. This odd dispersion of related trees can most easily be explained by imagining the loss of the great northern African Tertiary forests through the desertification of the area, leaving the two widely-separated remnant forests.
Everyone got to experience the unique Parque Nacional de Garajonay, but one group of us opted for a long hike on a series of well-maintained trails within the dark forest with its spooky trees. We could only imagine what it would be like walking here at night during a full moon with a cool breeze moving the mossy tendrils and causing the tree branches to rub together.
Life in La Gomera has never been easy, which became apparent as we viewed the countless rocky terraces scattered throughout the eroded valleys and steep mountain slopes. After the first European colonizers cruelly wrested control of the islands from their native inhabitants, fields of valuable sugarcane, grapes, and wheat were quickly established. Later, the sugarcane plantations were moved to the New World colonies and bananas, dates palms, apples, pomegranates, and other fruit trees were introduced to the Canaries. Today, however, many of these cultivated areas are abandoned and tourism has taken over as the most important part of the economy. It is without doubt an easier and more pleasant (and lucrative) lifestyle for the modern permanent populace.
Our second day in the Canary Islands was spent exploring what in my opinion is the most interesting island in the group… La Gomera. This island, located in the western region of the archipelago, is an ancient volcanic structure that has desert-like conditions in the lowlands, but is covered with a magnificent rain forest in the highlands. The forest is mostly incorporated into the Parque Nacional de Garajonay, and is now a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site. The park is known for its amazing flora and includes 10,000 acres of dense forest rising to 5,000 feet (1,500 m). Since the Canary Islands lie very close to northern Africa, which is only 60 miles (100 km) to the east of the archipelago, one would expect great similarity within the flora and fauna of the two lands. However, the cloud forest of La Gomera is composed primarily of eerie, twisted, moss-cloaked laurisilva (laurel) trees, whose nearest relatives are found in southern India. This odd dispersion of related trees can most easily be explained by imagining the loss of the great northern African Tertiary forests through the desertification of the area, leaving the two widely-separated remnant forests.
Everyone got to experience the unique Parque Nacional de Garajonay, but one group of us opted for a long hike on a series of well-maintained trails within the dark forest with its spooky trees. We could only imagine what it would be like walking here at night during a full moon with a cool breeze moving the mossy tendrils and causing the tree branches to rub together.
Life in La Gomera has never been easy, which became apparent as we viewed the countless rocky terraces scattered throughout the eroded valleys and steep mountain slopes. After the first European colonizers cruelly wrested control of the islands from their native inhabitants, fields of valuable sugarcane, grapes, and wheat were quickly established. Later, the sugarcane plantations were moved to the New World colonies and bananas, dates palms, apples, pomegranates, and other fruit trees were introduced to the Canaries. Today, however, many of these cultivated areas are abandoned and tourism has taken over as the most important part of the economy. It is without doubt an easier and more pleasant (and lucrative) lifestyle for the modern permanent populace.
