6 Best Canyons of Fuerteventura
If you have chosen Fuerteventura as your next holiday destination, we are sure that all its secrets, stories and landscapes will enchant you, and at Senda, we want to contribute a little bit more to make it so.
It is the second largest island in the Canary archipelago, and you may even be getting your own ideas about this place from the plane, but what would you expect from acompletely barren landscapewith supposedly no visible vegetation?
The truth is, Fuerteventura would be the perfect protagonist to bring to life a turn of events in any film scene, as you will be surprised by all that the island has to offer.
Its beaches with crystal clear waters and white sand are at the top of the chain of tourist attractions on this island, but there are also a number of elements that we know will leave you speechless when you come across them, as well as with an incredible desire to never leave our precious island:
- Its horizons alternating between grey and blue colours
- Panoramic views of land and sea areas that none of the other islands are able to give you in this fullness.
- Its impressive geological formations
- Local gastronomy served in a familiar and Canarian atmosphere like nowhere else.
- Its history and culture
- There are countless opportunities for you to enjoy the island's characteristic leisure activities .
In this post, we wanted to dedicate a small space to the ravines that make up this impressive island. In this way, you will be able to get to know in depth the history hidden along the length and breadth of its rocky walls, retracing your own steps to date back to, among others, the 15th century.
And while it never hurts to take a little detour off your route to catch a glimpse of the spectacular views that no other point on the island can provide, we've made sure to include different ravines in different municipalities on the island, so that you can find one just a couple of kilometres away.
RAVINE OF LAS PEÑITAS.
Beginning in the south of the island, this ravine is considered an otherworldly landscape in the interior of Fuerteventura, where it coexists with an extensive coastline of kilometres of paradisiacal beaches and contrasts that take us to an ancient world where it gives the impression that the passage of time has stopped.
It is located in the municipality of Betancuria, in the south of Fuerteventura, within the Betancuria Rural Park, being this ravine the main protagonist of the visit.
Unfortunately, despite being one of the most peculiar and beautiful natural sites of Fuerteventura, the Las Peñitas ravine is still "the great unknown of the island. "
It is an area of incredible scenic interest, as well as one of the few dams on the island.
If you dare to visit this ravine, you will be part of a route that will allow you to be part of one of the most interesting trails in Fuerteventuras.
It is a route that runs for the most part along the course of the Barranco de las Peñitas ravine, between enormous granite blocks that make the area a paradise for free climbing. So much so that climbers can often be seen in this area practising this sport.
RAVINE OF THE TOWERS.
We now move on to the municipality of Antigua, where we find the Barranco de La Torre ravine, named after the military tower that stands there.
It is one of the towers that form part of the so-called Betancurian castles, which were military works ordered to be built by the Franco-Normans Juan de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle.
The first known reference to this ravine dates back to the 16th century, when the remains of the tower were found, of which there was no other news beyond the toponymy of the ravine.
Its irregular, circular construction was a strategy to camouflage the site with the surroundings so that it would not be so visible, but still provide a wide field of vision both towards the coast and towards the centre of the island.
Without a doubt, it is an obligatory visit to get to know the life that the Majoreros were subjected to during the 15th - 16th centuries, which will be the culprit to leave your mind full of information during the next few days.
DAM OF THE MILLS.
Los Molinos Dam is located in the ravine of the same name in the municipality of Puerto del Rosario.
It is the largest accumulation of fresh water on the island. Thanks to this, many types of birds are driven to live in the area, making it one of the best birdwatching areas on the whole island.
Its construction was due to the need to supply water for irrigation to the agricultural colony of Las Parcelas, which was established two kilometres down the ravine. For this purpose, it was provided with a canal and a network of irrigation ditches that made it possible to irrigate the fields.
The work began in 1943 and was inaugurated three years later. Initially, the reservoir had a capacity of 500,000 cubic metres, but this was later increased to one million cubic metres.
It is currently the largest dam on the island and its location in the middle of a mountainous landscape offers one of the most contrasting landscapes on the island.
your holiday on Fuerteventura!
Don't miss the Escanfraga Mountain HikingExperience
This route allows us to walk around the Escanfraga Mountain, which is not only the highest on the island of Fuerteventura, but we can also see how this volcano was used in the past by farmers to grow staple foods.
If you want to live a unique and environmentally friendly experience, and also get to know the Escanfraga Mountain with a guide Senda , book your place for a guided tour.
RAVINE OF THE HORSESHOE.
Also located in Puerto del Rosario, it is one of the open valleys that have developed perpendicular to the Central Valley and which extend in an east-west direction.
It is a place of singular scenic beauty, as it is home to a wealth of fauna and flora that shows us, as if it were an open book, its geological evolution.
The gorge has undergone multiple transitions over many millions of years to reach its present state. These have been complex processes, so it is necessary to travel back in time to understand the processes that led to its formation.
The La Herradura ravine and Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) is wedged between Morros del Cortijo and Montaña del Gamón to the north and Montañeta de la Herradura to the southwest, which gives it a morphology of large, elongated, sub-parallel hills, separated by wide valleys.
This ravine allows us to learn about the volcanic history of the island, since volcanic activity ceased 14 million years ago and did not resume until 5 million years ago. Therefore, your visit to the Barranco de la Herradura during your trip to our island is a must. mustyou can't ignore.
The entire geological history can be read below the dam, where it can be clearly seen how the erosive action of the wind and torrential water that drags these pyroclastic materials is produced.
VALHONDO RAVINE.
Located in Puerto del Rosario, it is one of the ravines that, together with the Valhondo valley, are formations that are full of history and are worth getting to know.
The highest peak in the north of Fuerteventura begins the VALLEY AND BARRANCO DE VALHONDO. It is the area where the most water is collected in the area, which has sharpened the ingenuity of the inhabitants to make the most of the filtered and surface water that has been carried away by the runoffs.
In addition, the highest parts of the Valhondo ravine were chosen by the ancient mahos as places for rituals and cults, where engravings and constructions related to the aboriginal world can still be found today, which leads us to believe that this area was an important part of the transit of people at least five hundred years ago.
THE RAVINE OF LOVERS.
The Barranco de los Encantados or Enamorados ravine is located in the municipality of La Oliva, the area of this ravine was declared an Asset of Cultural Interest with the category of Palaeontological Zone in 2008.
Thanks to the group of dunes that fill the so-called Barranco de Los Encantados ravine, it has become a heritage site of great palaeontological, geological, landscape and cultural-historical interest in general.
This is a locality of great interest in the palaeontological-scientific field, as a new species has been detected which appears in great abundance at this site, and which belongs to the genus Cochlicella.
Furthermore, the conservation of the outcrops that occur in the Barranco, together with the ancient dunes rich in fossils, is essential for understanding the geological processes that have formed part of the evolution of the island of Furtteventura.
It is a unique, characteristic and peculiar ravine, with an extraordinary landscape that no other ravine in the Canary Islands can compete with, thanks to itsfossil dunesexcavated by the water.
In the same way, it is also an important didactic resource for anyone who visits it, as the fossilisation processes, the different biological properties of the species that exist, as well as the traces of activity that are preserved, can be appreciated very well.
Fall even more in love with the island of Fuerteventura as Unamuno did! To do so, we recommend you to read the article about the great Spanish philosopher and writer Unamuno and Fuerteventura.
