Garajonay National Park Travel Guide

Travel to Garajonay National Park - Popular Destination for Outdoor Enthusiasts

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Garajonay National Park is located in the centre of the island of La Gomera, occupying a surface area of 40 square kilometres (3 984 hectares) and extending into each of the municipalities on the island. The park is named after the rock formation of Garajonay, the highest point on the island at 1 484 metres; it also includes a small plateau of an altitude about 1 400 metres. The peak and park are named after the doomed Guanche lovers Gara and Jonay, whose story evokes those of Romeo and Juliet and Hero and Leander.

The park provides the best example of laurisilva, a humid subtropical forest that in the Tertiary covered almost all of Europe. It is also found on the Azores and the Madeira Islands. Laurus azorica, known as Azores Laurel, or by the Portuguese names Louro, Loureiro, Louro-da-terra, and Louro-de-cheiro, can be found in the park, as well as Laurus canariensis, known as Canary Laurel.

Attractions in Garajonay National Park

The forests are made up of laurel-leaved evergreen hardwood trees, reaching up to 40 metres in height. Many of the species are endemic to the islands, and harbor a rich biota of understory plants, invertebrates, and birds and bats, including a number of endemic species. Two species of reptile, Gallotia gomerana (Gomeran lizard) and Chalcides viridanus (Gomeran skink), can be found. Amphibians include the stripeless tree frog, Hyla meridionalis.The park is renowned as one of the best places to observe the two Canarian endemic pigeons, Laurel Pigeon (Columba junoniae) and Bolle's Pigeon (Columba bollii).

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