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A walk from Tajao on the south coast of Tenerife
Rocks in the barranco near the beginning of the walk showing the varied geology. The grass plant in front of the boulder is the very invasive introduced plant, Pennisetum setaceum.
I did this walk with a group of friends two weeks ago on the 2nd April. We decided to do a walk near the coast as the weather was a bit uncertain, and there were black clouds up the hills. So we thought we would explore the area inland from Tajao, as we had not walked there before. By walking near the coast we managed to avoid rain except for a few tiny drops at our highest point, and we saw an abundance of flowers, some endemic, others native and many ruderals and introduced species mainly from Europe.
Fagonia albiflora is widespread near the coast
Polycarpaea nivea is also a widespread coastal plant
I haven’t posted about this walk before as we saw so many flowers that I still have not identified all of them in the few spare minutes that I have had. However, I thought I had got names for enough of them to make a post now, to share with interested friends.
Canary Volutaria (Volutaria canariensis) A widespread annual growing to about 2 ft / 60cm high. It is a Canary endemic
I am not going to describe the walk as it was not the most inspiring walk I’ve done, and am not likely to do it again myself, since it passed through a quarry, where the track we were on disappeared, then having gained another track on a ridge we looked across at what turned out to be a landfill site! Further on we passed a solar farm, and an intensive animal farm with modern sheds and silos, though we could not see what animals it housed. So it was not the most scenic walk I have done in Tenerife, but it did have its moments, and it also passed through several areas of natural basal zone vegetation which were interesting.
Canary rock rose (Helianthemum canariense) is a canary endemic which likes open rocky sites in the basal zone.
We were following a track we had downloaded from Wikiloc contributed by the user “Rutas de Tenerife” which you will find at the following link: http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=4025346
A view of the typical natural vegetation on a rocky ridge at about 100m altitude
However, be warned. We lost our way in the quarry where recent work appeared to have destroyed the path we were following, and we also lost our way halfway down the descent, in an area of loose rocks which was difficult to walk on without a path.
Mataperros (Ceropegia fusca) with its odd-shaped red flowers
The plants that are illustrated are relatively common near the coast in the south of the island, so I hope it will interest you on walks in the south even though this walk was not the most recommended!
Canary bird’s foot trefoil (Lotus sessilifolius) is the coastal species of this group
Volutaria tubuliflora is an annual which is a more widespread (non endemic) species of Volutaria. They are related to the knapweeds.
A view into a nearby barranco
The flowers of the Canary spurge (Euphorbia canariensis)
Ajuga iva seen on the track
Reseda scoparia a Canary endemic of the mignonette family which is fairly common in the basal zone
A typical view of the vegetation in the rocky part of the descent, with a Mataperros, (Ceropegia fusca) in the foreground (grey stick-like), Balo (Plocama pendula) the drooping shrub behind, Bitter spurge (Euphorbia lamarckii) the yellowing bush to its right, and Cardón (Euphorbia canariensis) the candlesticks behind.
Frankenia capitata is common near the coast
A short circular walk from Arico Nuevo
The view of Barranco de los Caballos between Arico Nuevo and Villa de Arico
The path crossing the Barranco de los Caballos
We started this walk from the square in Arico Nuevo, where there are signboards about walks going in every direction. We took the street opposite the church, walking in the direction of Villa de Arico. We began with a gentle downhill walk on a road passing houses, until the tarmac suddenly ended and we continued on a track. We had a yellow/white waymark to confirm it was a path and continued downhill, soon overlooking an attractive barranco, the Barranco Lere or de los Caballos. This is the same ravine followed in the Poris de Abona to Arico Nuevo walk, but a bit higher up. Despite the long spell of dry warm weather, the barranco looked surprisingly green and had a fair selection of plants, although few are in flower at the moment.
The Marguerite local to coastal regions (Argyranthemum frutescens)
The path as we climbed out of the ravine had a few flowers bravely blooming in the damper spots, including Canary lavender (Lavandula canariensis), the local Marguerite (Argyranthemum frutescens), Canary madder (Rubia fruticosa), the local Bird’s foot trefoil (Lotus sessilifolius) and the ubiquitous Pitch plant (Psoralea bituminosa).
The Bird's foot trefoil local to coastal areas of the Canary Islands (Lotus sessilifolius)
Fagonia albiflora, at the base of a terrace wall, a common creeping plant of dry coastal areas
The path finally joined a tarmac road, and although the yellow/white marked trail went left, we went right up the road to join the main road. We had to walk along the road for some couple of hundred metres till we had crossed the barranco again on the road bridge. Then immediately after the bridge a path went left to go along the right side of the barranco, and then climb a rocky surface to a wooden cross. A short walk beyond this we joined a tarmac country road, continued across it past a house with barking dogs, and then joined a white pumice track going to the left, which continued between the barranco and some terraces, climbing gently and bending round to the right. On the way I noticed the Vinegrera (Rumex lunaria) bushes were in flower. This common shrub is widely used for animal fodder but most of the year it is difficult to relate it to the dock family, but when it is in flower the relationship is obvious. Eventually, about 1.25 hours from the start in Arico Nuevo, we arrived at the top of the village of La Sabinita. We went right, again following yellow/white markers, down a wide street, left at the little church and arrived at the plaza with several benches. There we ate our picnic lunch before continuing following the yellow/white markers down through the rest of the village. As we left the village we kept to the left of the road, to follow the yellow/white markers onto a path which cuts off a loop in the road by going straight down to the village of La Degollada. Walking straight through this village, and straight on down a cobbled street, following the yellow/white markers, we arrived again at the square in Arico Nuevo.
The flower of the Vinegrera (Rumex lunaria) a Canarian endemic of the dock family
The walk was 6.8km long and took us 2.25hrs, with a climb of around 350m. I have put the GPS track on Wikiloc, where you can view it on a map, and download it:
tenerifenaturewalks 