Travel Guide Anaga

At the north-east point of Tenerife, the Anaga is an old massif culminating in 1 024 metres, much less marked by volcanism than erosion. The main mark of this relative geological seniority is the large number of dykes: These bare stone lines, sometimes several metres high, are not walls erected by man, but old arteries by which the lava trickling. Most are oriented following the direction of the crest of the massif, itself in an extension of the volcanic rift. The contrast is striking between the southern slope of the Anaga, venté, dry and visible dikes, and the north slope, covered by a forest made of giant laurels and tree heather bruyères, the largest and best preserved of Tenerife. This survival of what was the Mediterranean forest, 20 million years ago, has been considerably, narrowed and Tenerife now has only 15% of its original monteverde, of which more than half in the Anaga, which is worth being protected as a rural park since 1987.