Calle Lanzarote

Archive for the ‘Timanfaya’ Category

Timanfaya National Park

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

Timanfaya National ParkIt is perhaps a bit unusual that I had been coming to Lanzarote for 10 years before I finally took the tour of Timanfaya National Park, and for many tourists it is probably one of the first places that they take an excursion to.

But for whatever reason, I had only driven past the entrance until now, which does not mean that I had not seen photos and films of what to expect.

The day of our visit must have been a popular choice, because the cars were queued back onto the road (LZ-67) when we arrived. An efficient member of staff was going along the queue, handing out leaflets and enquiring as to the number and age of people in the car. This allowed him to have our tickets ready for us by the time we reached the front of the queue.

Timanfaya National ParkBut the queuing was not over here. We then had to wait on the next piece of road to continue up to the car park.

At the car park there were at least three people directing the traffic and making sure that everyone found a parking space as soon as possible. Once we stepped out of the car, one of them immediately asked us which language we spoke and directed us to one of the faded orange coaches that was going to take us around the park. (more…)



My first camel ride

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

It took me three visits to Lanzarote before I got on a camel. In fact, it was my daughter that really wanted to ride on one, having seen them on our previous holiday and being, in our opinion, too young then.

So this time we returned to the camels in Timanfaya and were surprised to see so many of them there. The reason was obvious: a number of coach tours were going on the same day, so extra camels had been laid on.

We headed to an area away from the buses and were duly assigned to our camels. The price was 12EUR per camel, with each camel able to take two people.

Camels at Timanfaya

Camels at Timanfaya

The trip up the side of the mountain and back down again took a little over 15 minutes. There are fairly new facilities built under the lava with toilets, a bar and a gift shop.

We thoroughly enjoyed the ride, and I was also interested to read in a local publication (pp.32-33) that the camels are not only well looked after, but that their working hours are also strictly limited.



Camel rides at Timanfaya

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

Anyone who has been to Lanzarote will probably be able to tell you about the camel rides. They may not have ridden one themselves, but they may have seen them. At the very least they will have heard about them.

lanzarote-camels.jpg

The camels take tourists on rides around Timanfaya, the national park with the main volcano located in it. If you have the use of a car, then it is possible to drive to their site and hire a ride locally. Most, however, will have booked a package which includes transport to the site and the ride itself.

Each camel can carry two people – seated one on either side. Once all the camels are loaded up, they stand up in a row and walk off up the mountain.

The camels used to be used on the islands for agriculture and for transport – being suited to the local lack of fresh water on the island. Today they may “only” be used by tourists, but they provide an ecologically-friendly way of seeing the centre of the national park.



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