Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key TakeawaysMy tour guide and I were in the middle of a lava field, with nothing but hills and heaps of solidified black lava flanking both sides of the highway. He pointed to an inconspicuous hole in the ground and said, "I have a cool tunnel to show you."
Half-afraid I was about to be murdered, I gathered my courage and climbed into the blackness. Stumbling along with nothing to help me except my phone flashlight, I began my exploration of one of the many lava tubes hidden beneath the rolling lava fields of Timanfaya National Park, on the island of Lanzarote. The air inside was close, which did not help the claustrophobic feeling. Nevertheless, we emerged safely back into the light a few minutes later through another hole.
A fortunate isle
Lanzarote is one of the oldestand the first to be settled of the Canary Islands. TheGuanches made their home here around 1000 BCE, most likely from North Africa. The islands, though small, were interesting enough for Romans, Carthaginians, Numidians, and Phoenicians to visit. If you enjoy reading about mythical or lost islands, the Canariesare a possible location for the Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blessed.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R25ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R45ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeClassical writers like Pliny the Elder and Plutarch described the Fortunate Isles as “winterless” and a paradise. Even today, the Canaries are known as the islands of eternal spring because of their year-round mild weather and sun.
One of the many volcanoes on the island. Photo: Kristine De AbreuVolcanic chaos
The volcanic history of the Canary Islands is messy, complicated, and still highly debatable. Geologists and volcanologists believe that a hotspot formed this archipelago off the coast of northwestern Africa. A hotspot is a location in the Earth's mantle where a plume of magma rises toward the surface.
What makes hotspots unique is that they do not need to form on the boundaries of tectonic plates. Rather, they can emerge within a plate, thus creating volcanic chains. Here, the Canary Hotspot lies on the African Plate, which created the archipelago around 60 to 70 million years ago.
I started off my journey with an early-morning wakeup and a half-hour drive from the capital of Arrecife to a small fishing village called El Golfo. As I got out of the car, my eyes were trying hard to adjust to the many contrasting colors. I was standing on red lava rocks and soil, the bright blue waves of the ocean were on my immediate right, and a striking green lake was on my left.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2cekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4cekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe“El Lago Verde,” my guide told me. The Green Lake.
The lake formed during a series of eruptions in the 18th century. Its green color comes from algae mixed with its sulfuric surroundings. This was quite the start to my journey through this otherworldly island.
Lanzarote's Green Lake. Photo: Marques/ShutterstockDesert island
Lanzarote is the easternmost of the Canary Islands. Unlike its siblings, it is an outlier with a much wilder landscape. Its raw volcanic aspect and otherworldly color suggest the surface of Mars. While Tenerife boasts lush laurel forests and quaint historic towns, Lanzarote is a classical “desert” island — arid, rocky, and replete with volcanic cones, fissures, and bowls of black, red, brown, and ochre volcanic rock and soil.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2jekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4jekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeThough Lanzarote is called The Island of 1,000 Volcanoes, there is only one active volcano on the entire island. It's called Timanfaya, also the name of the national park in which it sits. Despite the volcanoes, Lanzarote is not as mountainous as some other islands in the Canaries, with a high point of only 670m.
Though things seem quiet on Lanzarote, don’t take it for granted. Since the eruption of Cumbre Vieja in 2021 forced the evacuation of 7,000 residents elsewhere in the Canaries, it is important to be vigilant. From 1730 to 1736, Lanzarote experienced continuous volcanic eruptions, creating 32 volcanoes and burying 11 villages. In 1824, the volcano stirred again. The lava fields and volcanoes popular with hikers all resulted from these eruptions.
Amid the destruction, one miraculous story of a community's survival emerged. When the flowing lava threatened a village called Tinajo, they placed a cross in its path. The flow miraculously halted, so they say. They attributed the flow's sudden pause to divine intervention.
Volcanoes restricted in park
As for the other dormant or extinct volcanoes on the island (only 25 lie within Timanfaya National Park), you are free to climb and hike them. Within Timanfaya, the volcanoes are restricted as you are not free to roam without supervision…and you must pay for guided tours. However, the volcanoes in nearby Los Volcanes Natural Park usually have very accessible paths. The trails wind around on a gentle incline, so the hikes are not particularly strenuous.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2qekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4qekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframePopular hikes include Volcán de la Corona, Montaña Blanca, and Montaña Colorado. Guided tours to the Montañas del Fuego in Timanfaya are available. Here, you will get demonstrations of setting off geysers and eat some unusual restaurant food that uses volcanic heat for cooking.
Inside a caldera. Photo: Kristine De AbreuTaming the land
Lanzarote has great hikes and scenery and extensive lava tunnels and tubes below the surface. The island features the world’s largest underwater volcanic tunnel, appropriately crowned the Tunnel of Atlantis, which is over 1.5 km long. This tunnel is part of a wider network called the Cueva de los Verdes, which is six kilometers long. Occasionally, it also acts as a concert hall for live entertainment.
Like most deserts, Lanzarote is by no means barren. Its soil is some of the most fertile out there. La Geria is a protected area where farmers create unique vineyards in small craters in the black soil. They line half of the crater’s rim with stones to protect crops, usually grapes or figs, from the wind. The landscape is pockmarked as far as the eye can see.
La Geria vineyards. Photo: Simona Pilolla 2/ShutterstockAdvertisementAdvertisement#«R32ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R52ekkr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe The European Space Agency found Lanzarote to be the perfect laboratory for training and simulating missions to the Moon and Mars. They call the program PANGAEA -- Planetary ANalogue Geological and Astrobiological Exercise for Astronauts.
The takeaway
So, if you wish to see an alien world but you’re not an eccentric billionaire with a spaceship, Lanzarote awaits.
