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A nature walk in the dramatic Barranco de Badajoz, Guimar
Posted by Sally Whymark
I have wanted to visit the Barranco de Badajoz for a long time as I was aware of its historical interest and biodiversity. However I always thought it was a rather short walk for my energetic walking friends, and too difficult underfoot for my less active friends. However, I was proved wrong on both counts when I finally visited it on Saturday, 19th March.
The Barranco de Badajoz is known historically for being the last stronghold of the resisting guanche population after the spanish invasion. However, I was interested more in the wide range of interesting and endemic plants that grow there. Usually such a barranco would be extremely difficult to walk up, due to large boulders, etc, but this was not the case until the last 100m or so before the end point where the barranco becomes almost vertical some hundreds of metres high.
The path up the barranco is a driveable (4×4) track for a great part of the way, and then becomes an easy sand/gravel path until you reach a decaying and unused concrete water channel bridge overhead just below the Galeria Izana. Only then does the path deteriorate to a rubbly scramble through bramble bushes till you reach a very narrow gorge, only a couple of metres at its narrowest, where the cascade chain begins.
We began our walk from near the church in the village of San Juan in the Guimar valley where there are a number of parking places and a nice friendly little bar for our end of walk drinks. However, if we had wanted to shorten the walk further we could have driven a further kilometre to park on the side of the barranco itself, or even further than that.
On entering the barranco it is fairly wide, with small farms either side on the slopes. Gradually as you walk up the barranco sides close in and get steeper and the farms get fewer and then disappear. Half way up the barranco is a concrete and cobbled ramp which takes you past a gallery entrance on the left and through a narrow gorge on a bend in the barranco. Afterwards the barranco widens again but from this point on, the richness of the plant life and the breathtaking scenery are amazing.
Immediately after the gorge there is a group of evergreen small trees including Atlantic Islands buckthorn – Sanguino in spanish -(Rhamnus glandulosa), Spiny Buckthorn – Espinero – (Rhamnus crenulata), Canary maytenus – Peralillo – (Maytenus canariensis), and mixed in with them some Wild Olive (Olea europea). Also luxuriant growth of shrubs and climbers such as Shrubby Burnet – (Bencomia caudata), Forest Bindweed – Corregüelón de monte – (Convolvulus canariensis) and Madder – Azaigo de risco (Rubia peregrina ssp agostinhoi).
At the sides of the path and tracks can be found Pinnate Rue (Ruta pinnata), False sages (Sideritis oroteneriffae), Viper’s Buglosses of two species (Echium virescens) and (Echium strictum), an endemic broom (Teline osyroides) and Canary St Johns Wort (Hypericum canariensis) among many other things.
On the steep slopes are forests of ferns, lots of native sow thistles (Sonchus sp.), native Cinerarias (Pericallis sp.) and so much more. Even in the luxuriant brambles near the end of the trail an endemic of the stinging nettle family can be found (Urtica morifolia).
The walk took us 3.5 hours at a leisurely pace with plenty of time to look at the plants. We walked 8.5 km / just over 5 miles and climbed approximately 310m on a gentle incline. As mentioned above, starting the walk 1km further on, and finishing a little sooner could have reduced the distance by 2-3 km, and, as it is a there and back walk one can walk as little or as much as desired. However, I do recommend going past the concrete and cobble ramp and through the gorge to see the best biodiversity.
You can find various walks to the Barranco de Badajoz on the wikiloc.com site to help you get to the beginning. Clearly the higher reaches of the barranco with high vertical cliffs does not lend itself to accurate GPS tracks.
Posted in Botanical interest, South Tenerife, Walks in Tenerife
Tags: Barranco de Badajoz, Bencomia caudata, Canary endemics, Echium strictum, endemic plants, Guimar, hiking, Maytenus canariensis, Olea europea, Rhamnus crenulata, Rhamnus glandulosa, rural tourism, Ruta pinnata, senderismo, Teline osyroides, Tenerife, tourism, Valle de Guimar, Vicia cirrhosis, walking
The fantastic Masca Barranco
Posted by Sally Whymark
I haven’t written in this blog about the Masca gorge, or barranco, and neither did I include it in my book ‘Tenerife Nature walks’ despite it being one of the most botanically interesting areas of Tenerife. One reason is that the gorge is very overcrowded with literally hundreds of people going both up and down, many of them not particularly suited to doing such an arduous walk, so I do not particularly want to encourage more. However, if you are interested in the botanical rarities which can be found in the gorge, and are fit enough to do the walk, it is a very rewarding experience.
This time we decided to walk up the gorge, so we took the boat from Los Gigantes to Masca beach. It was nice to do it that way, but I think if you want to look at the plants, it is probably better to do the walk downward. I was struggling to keep up with my friends and did not have time to take good photos of most of the flowers I saw, so I have used some from previous visits. The gorge has tremendous biodiversity, but I have concentrated on the ones you are less likely to see elsewhere, when choosing the photos to put on this blog.
I’m not going to describe the walk as once in one end of the gorge, the only way out is either the same way, or the other end! And while there may be various choices of paths in places in the barranco, you cannot get lost.
As we went up the gorge, I am describing the plants in a bottom-up order. The first plant I was excited to see was Vieraea laevigata, a fresh green clump of a plant hanging from a side of the gorge, with yellow daisy flowers. It is a Tenerife endemic, confined largely to Teno, but a delight to see. Unfortunately, my photos did not come out!
Soon after I saw more than one dwarf shrub with soft filiform leaves and tiny white flowers, Polycarpaea filifolia.
Higher up, on a bend in the gorge where the path is a few feet above the streamed, I was surrounded by fresh green shrubs around 1 metre high with creamy white flowers. These are Dorycnium eriophthalmium, a rare Canary endemic.
I began to see clumps of large crinkly and hairy leaves, about 15cm / 6 inches across. I saw them in several places up the gorge. They are the leaves of Salvia broussonetii, a rare Tenerife endemic which is confined to the Teno and Anaga regions of the island. It flowers in late summer.
Throughout the middle part of the gorge I came across several shrub-sized specimens of Maytenus canariensis which is known in Spanish as Peralillo, or little pear tree. This is because the leaves bear a resemblance to pear tree leaves, though they are stiffer and more waxy. The plant can grow to the size of a small tree. However, this year I was unable to see any flowers or fruit on them, so the photo is from 2013.
Also in the middle part of the gorge, in various places, were the small upright shrubs of Teline osyroides, brightening up the valley with their yellow flowers.
Previously I have seen the flowers of Teucrium heterophyllum in the gorge, fairly near the top. It is a lax grey leaved shrub, and the flowers are hard to see, under the leaves. I did not see them this time.
As we started to emerge from the gorge into the sunshine just below Masca village, we saw some specimens of Echium strictum in flower. This isn’t the most striking of the tajinastes (as the Vipers Bugloss family is called in spanish), but still an interesting plant.
We walked up the gorge in 2.75 hours, including a lunch break, but I would have liked to spend a lot longer looking at the plants and flowers, so if that is what you like doing, allow plenty of time – there’s a lot to see!
Posted in Botanical interest, Walks in Tenerife, West Tenerife
Tags: Barranco de Masca, Canary endemic, Dorycnium eriophthalmium, Echium strictum, hiking, Macronesian endemic, Masca gorge, Maytenus canariensis, Polycarpaea filifolia, Salvia broussonetii, senderismo, Teline osyroides, Tenerife, Teucrium heterophyllum, walking