Lanzarote, did you know?

Lanzarote, did you know? Lanzarote is a world reference as a model of sustainable development. We explain that this island never ceases to amaze us.

At Canarian Transfer we have a wide variety of excursions to get to know this amazing island.

Integration

The perfect integration of its tourist infrastructure into the natural environment makes Lanzarote a world reference as a model of sustainable development.

Lanzarote, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, is characterized by a unique volcanic landscape with amazing geological shapes. However, far from seeming desolate, it is a beautiful example of a volcanic ecosystem. If there is anything that defines Lanzarote it is its peculiar landscape of lava and volcanic ash, the result of the various volcanic eruptions that occurred on the island between the 18th and 19th centuries.

From north to south, the island offers a wide variety of landscapes, ranging from the lush landscapes of Haría to the vineyards of La Geria. And on the coast, beautiful beaches such as Papagayo and Famara contrast with rocky cliffs and volcanic formations such as Los Hervideros or El Golfo.

The greatest seismic activity was recorded in Timanfaya National Park, a true showcase of the island’s ecosystem. This space encompasses an immense sea of solidified lava in which curious geological formations emerge, such as caves, cones and craters. In this unique landscape is hidden a great diversity of plants, with lichens, reeds and shrubs such as the mallardrosa, the almirón, the tazaigo or the ratonera. Lanzarote preserves other natural areas of great importance: the Natural Park of Los Volcanoes, which surrounds Timanfaya, and the Natural Park of the Archipelago Chinijo, a marine ecosystem that includes islets of great beauty and interest for the species of birds that populate them. The perfect integration of its tourist infrastructure into the natural environment makes Lanzarote a world reference as a model of sustainable development. This fact, together with the excellent state of its natural heritage, allowed the island to be declared a Biosphere Reserve in 1993.

Biosphere Reserve

In 1993, Lanzarote was declared a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), becoming the second in the Canary Islands after the island of La Palma.

What is new is that for the first time, a territory as a whole, including all its population centres, is declared by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve.

Peculiarity

Lanzarote is the northernmost and easternmost of the Canary Islands. Its climate is subtropical with little rainfall and covers an area of more than 80,000 hectares. Popularly known as “the island of volcanoes”, its landscape was greatly transformed by the great volcanic activity of the 18th century. For six years it covered 9 villages with lava, what we now know as the Timanfaya National Park, declared in 1974.  

Its symbol is the devil of Timanfaya designed by César Manrique, a local artist of international renown who has left a great artistic and architectural heritage, such as the Jameos del Agua, the Mirador del Río, the Jardín de Cactus or the Taro de Tahíche, his own house, built using the natural space of five volcanic bubbles. It is the current headquarters of the César Manrique Foundation. This painter, sculptor, architect and artist sought in his works the harmony between art and nature.

With Lanzarote and Menorca for the Man and Biosphere (MaB) programme, UNESCO inaugurated a new strategy when it comes to selecting territories, betting on enclaves of high environmental value but at the same time under intense human pressure.

Lanzarote has particular characteristics that make it exclusive and unique.

In its beaches, volcanoes, cliffs, ravines and sandy deserts the island hides a great biological wealth. Lanzarote has more than 2,500 terrestrial species and subspecies (mostly arthropods). A total of 468 species and 94 subspecies are exclusive to the Canary Islands, but in the case of the unique endemisms of Lanzarote there are 97 species and 19 subspecies.

This fact, together with the uniqueness of its ecosystems and the beauty of its landscapes, has been the reason why 41.6% of the island’s surface is protected by one of the categories of the Canary Islands Network of Protected Natural Areas and 65% of the non-agricultural land is protected by the Island Development Plan.

Its territory includes a national park, an integral nature reserve, two nature parks, five natural monuments, two protected landscapes, two sites of scientific interest (SICs), eleven Special Protection Areas (SPAs), seven Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and one of the largest marine reserves in Europe, which protects the inland waters of the Chipelago archipelago.inijo, a group of islets located to the north of the island.

This Marine Reserve is the largest in the network, with a total extension of 70,439 hectares.

It includes the waters that bathe the Chinijo Archipelago, formed by a group of islands and volcanic islets like all the Canary Islands, located to the north of the island of Lanzarote.

Water bodies are influenced by the phenomenon of cold, rich water outcrops on the African coast. The rocky and abrupt bottoms with abundant caves, cracks and tunnels dominate, in an area of wide marine shelf, exceptional in the Canary Islands.

The vegetation cover consists of marine phanerogams such as Cymodocea nodosa, which forms meadows known in the Canary Islands as “sebadales” and abundant species of algae, such as those of the genera Caulerpa, Halimeda or Cystoseira.

Now that you know a little more about Lanzarote we encourage you to get to know the island comfortably with the tours we offer you with Canarian Transfer, book your transfer from the airport to your hotel with us and let us show you the island through our eyes.