LA GOMERA - Canary Isles information - Spain Tourism |
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The wildest of the islands, almost
round in shape, La Gomera is only a few miles from Tenerife, covering
378 square kilometres and featuring the Garajonay peak at an altitude
of almost 1,500 metres. A high plateau in the middle of the island
organises the lay of the land. Deep radial gorges drop from the plateau
down to the sea. The effects of erosion have left fertile soil here,
flattened by means of terraces. La Gomera has relics from geological
and prehistoric eras that are still alive today, such as a laurisilva
forest, the Gomera whistle (a unique form of communication using whistles)
and the pottery of Chipude, modelled by hand without the use of a
potter's wheel.
Garajonay national park
Granted World Heritage status by UNESCO, the park is based
around the heights of Garajonay, covers 3,984 hectares and is home
to the laurisilva forest, a relic from the Tertiary age, an era when
this type of forest covered much of the Mediterranean basin, from
Asia Minor to the Atlantic. Today it can be found in certain parts
of the Canaries, the Azores and Madeira. It is a dense, humid and
shady forest, with a tropical feel to it, and evergreen trees similar
to the bay or laurel tree, hence its name. Around 400 plant species
grow in the park, many of them autochthonous, with 18 varieties of
tree, all very much present. In the more fertile areas the til, palo
blanco and viñátigo (one of the symbols of the island)
all grow. A superb undergrowth and the spectacular be jeques, as the
Aeonium is known here, are just two of the park's many attractions.
The paloma rabiche and turque are endemic species. The
existence of the laurisilva forest is due to the lack of volcanic
eruption on the island in the last two million years and to the trade
winds, which scale the park's peaks loaded with humidity, where the
concentration of water vapour over 1,000 metres causes rainfall and
the famous sea of clouds. The Cedro forest, on the edge of the park,
is a huge collection of flora growing around a stream and a waterfall.
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