WHERE TO START: This is a restricted path for the routes organized by the Visitor’s Center of Mancha Blanca. It is organized on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, from approximately 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There are eight places in each trip. Participation is free. We have a guide who describes for us the Timanfaya National Park, its history, and its main geological characteristics. Booking.
This majestic route starts in the core of Timanfaya. Exactly, a few miles to the northeast of El Golfo. We got here in a van, along with our seven hiking companions, with the park rangers of the National Park. On the slopes of Montaña Encantada, we are given a brief description of the spectacular landscape that we are going to go through. A quick view at the horizon that we are going to traverse tells us that yes, this hike is going to be somewhat special. Besides, the path is very easy. A minimum physical fitness is necessary to tackle it.
We take the path going northwest and will end up a few miles to the west of the village of Yaiza. The day is nice, clear, with little wind. The picture with the capricious combinations of the lava tongues and the peak gets to the hiker. The black, red and ochre, along with the scant green vegetation intermingle in a sublime explosion of colors. At approximately half an hour, the guide will invite us to enter a volcanic bubble. There, beneath the ground (see picture on the right), we will rest while we are explained the reason for these curious geological forms. Without a doubt, the experience is becoming a better formula to get to know the natural park of Timanfaya.
Once on the surface again, we retake the path zigzagging around Montaña Rajada and Pico Rajado. The trail is still very easy, which allows us to lose our gaze on the thousand and one different panoramas, in the middle of a captivating silence. The fig trees in the middle of the mountains attest to a past when Timanfaya, surprisingly was farmland. As of today, in 2007, 878,000 people visited the National Park, and the sacrificed past remains as a historic postcard. Like the fig driers, built in the rough terrain with volcanic rocks, which withstand the passing of the years. From dawn to dusk, the ancient inhabitants of Yaiza and Uga got on their camels and came to this place; they loaded the dry figs and went back to their homes with the sweet nutrient.
After climbing the slim figures of Montaña Rajada and Pico Rajado we take the final straight stretch of this route after two hours of hiking. The hikers’ comments are consistent: excellent, impressive, grandiose. Another van of the National Park takes us to the Mancha Blanca Visitor’s Center. The guide was surprised to see someone from Lanzarote among the ranks of the hikers. It is surprising. With us there are two Argentinean women who settled in Lanzarote four years ago; an Italian man and a Spanish woman who live in Paris, newlywed and on our island on their honeymoon; a guy from Madrid who is visiting his family in Famara and another couple from the Spanish mainland. “It’s not very frequent”, she said. “It might be – we answered – because we perceive tourist centers as things for tourists”. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays of each week throughout the year. Free. Booking.