Lanzarote is home to an amazing host of visitor attractions, but none quite match the awesome, surreal beauty of the Timanfaya National Park, which is a must see for anyone planning a break in Playa Blanca.
The area of Lanzarote known as Timanfaya is essentially the newest part of the island, having come into creation only three hundred years ago when the sustained eruptions of 1730-36 took place. During this six year period of volatile volcanic behaviour, almost a quarter of the now existing land mass of Lanzarote was formed, as lava and molten rock was spewed out of the earth continuously.
And while no human lives were lost during this tumultuous phase, some of the most fertile farming land was buried, leaving many families unable to continue to eke a living from the countryside. Many chose to flee the island altogether, sailing to the Caribbean and Latin America in search of work and new opportunities.
Of course, no evidence of this hardship and fight for survival can be gleaned from the stark landscapes that comprise the National Park of Timanfaya to modern visitors. The pristine sea of lapilli, as the volcanic gravel is known, spreads out across several kilometres of the park, with not a footprint in sight.
As one of the most accessible volcanic regions in the world, Timanfaya offers visitors the chance to view craters and cones, molten walls of stone that look as if they are made of wax and eerie vistas that bear none of the traces of human habitation. As apart from the restaurant and facilities on the Islote de Hilario, the rest of the park is untouched. A road winds through the most interesting and visually impressive aspects of the eruptions, which is skilfully negotiated by the coach drivers who take sightseers through the park.
There are the beginnings of encroachment by native flora on some of the slopes but it will take centuries of natural erosion by wind and rain to soften the jagged contours that typify this scenery. In the meantime, the Timanfaya park provides us with a window onto the world that has been newly made, much as it would have been billions of years ago before vegetation began to cover the earth’s surface in all but the most arid areas.
Beyond the borders of the park itself is a further expanse of countryside which is also dominated by volcanoes. This is the Natural Volcanic Park and visitors can walk across the lava fields here, as there are several paths that give access to the most striking formations found in this zone, including the Montaña Colorada, which has rust red flanks and Volcan El Cuervo, which has a path leading down into its now dead crater.
<< Back to posts