Inagua in winter and spring

View inland from Degollada de las Brujas

Reserva natural integral de Inagua (strict nature reserve Inagua) is a protected pine forest in the southwest part of Gran Canaria. Technically, it consists of three different forests - Inagua (confusing, innit?), Ojeda and Pajonales, but they are merged together anyway. The whole reserve is shared between three municipalities (Tejeda, La Aldea and Mogan). Almost all of the trees that grow there are Canarian Pines (Pinus canariensis). Canarian pine is interesting - it has such a thick bark that trees can survive forest fires, that is why it is now planted elsewhere in the wildfire-prone places. 

It reminds me that I have seen new shoots coming directly out of burnt trunks where the last forest fire happened. Maybe the next blog entry will be dedicated to how the site recovers).

Coming down from Montana de Inagua. We look like The Company from the Lord of the Rings.

This year I have already been to Inagua twice, both times with Arawak, which stays my preferred company. Without them, getting there will be difficult to put it mildly. Getting there by car involves driving on my least favourite type of roads (narrow, curvy, steep) plus you can only do circular. Getting there by public transport is difficult (sometimes impossible), very slow, and, surprisingly, more expensive than going with Arawak.

This is not fog. Well, maybe it is - after all, what is a cloud for you when you walk through it? Montana de Inagua (aka Montana de Hornos)

First time we went in February. Before that, we had ended up freezing our bits off on some of the winter excursions. Don't be surprised - the climate of Canary Islands is famously mild, but we do have winter when it gets cooler, plus nearly all of the excursions are in the mountains where it can get colder still and occasionally can get below zero at night. 

So, despite the "full sun" forecast I came prepared - i.e. with fleece, waterproof cover and even fleecy gloves. We had a good laugh about it before we started, but boy oh boy, was I happy that I brought it all. We started walking up from the road (GC200) by Roque de Veneguera in full sun, crossed the reserve in full sun, came up to the "main" mountain (Inagua, or Montana de los Hornos) while a cloud was approaching it from the other side and walked right down into that cloud. It grew cold really fast, that was the moment the fleece and gloves came out of the backpack. We walked out of the cloud eventually, and made our descent to La Aldea in full sun once again. All of which is a reminder (including to self) how changeable the weather could be.

Sheep!

Second time was in the end of March. We started our walk in a tiny hamlet Juncal de Tejeda, walked across the valley and up and entered the reserve close to casa forestal (this is for reference only, you either know of don't). You enter the reserve by a path which branches off a dirt track, and this is where we had out most exciting encounter of the day (and the only one, as it happens).

I know that recently - a month ago, maybe - an important agreement was reached between Cabildo (island council) and the shepherds community. Cheese production is very important for all of Canary Islands, but for decades the grazing arrangements were very difficult because of many restrictions. Now the shepherds of the island have more freedom to move their livestock. Apparently, the idea is that (restricted) grazing in some places where it was not previously allowed will help to prevent some of the wild fires. Hopefully it will make the production of all that lovely cheese easier, too.

Aaanyway. As you can see from the pics, we met a flock of sheep on the dirt track. First, there was a guy in a hat on a horse. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera at the ready at this point. Then came a few shepherds and then what to me, a city dweller, seemed like a couple of hundred sheep. And then, moving in the opposite direction, a bunch of people on mountain bikes :) I don't really know if this flock was moving along a newly opened path, or one they always use, but the coincidence seems interesting.

Encounter point. Neither sheep nor cyclists seem happy to see each other.

Once all the excitement was over, we walked through reserve by the orange cliff Risco Colorado, towards the plateau Llanos de Ojeda.

Normally young canarian pine are conical; this one is growing in a windy spot.

Asphodel, Asphodelus ramosus, known as gamona locally, flowers on Llanos de Ojeda, March

Llanos de Ojeda are full of flowers this time of year - mostly Canarian lavender and branched asphodel. I also saw that a few plants of white rockrose (Cistus) which are starting to bloom.

Asphodel and Canarian lavender (Lavandula canariensis) flower together on Llanos de Ojeda, March

From there, we went down to the road along the ravine Barranco de Azulejos by the amazing colorful strata. Here we started to see other people again. And it was there where I realized I forgot to take something else. A swimsuit to be precise.

It was almost a month ago when we had a lot of rain brought on by storm Emma. After rains, every small ravine was full of water and  every reservoir got filled. One month later, there is still a bit of water filtering from the top of the island. In Barranco de Azulejos there are a few big(ish) pools of water still standing - already getting green and stagnant, but you can dip in them, if only just. There was a surprising number of people there, braving a steep ascent from the road for a (somewhat dubious) pleasure of bathing in "fresh" water. I mean, a couple of weeks ago I wouldn't have called it dubious and would have dropped the quotation marks. But at the end of long and hot walk the pools looked welcoming, stagnant or not.

Los Azulejos strata. I read that the colors appeared when the lava was interacting with sea water minerals.

I was amazed to see that some of my companions did bring swimsuits along. One of them told me he always has swimming stuff in his backpack, just in case. So now I am seriously consider to acquire the same habit.

So, fleece, gloves, waterproof, swimsuit, headscarf ... am I forgetting something else?

Out of respect to Arawak guides, I don't publish the routes. But the photos do have points of references, so you can work out where you would like to go.

Please note, however, that a permit from Cabildo is needed to enter Inagua and is it takes a goodish while to obtain it (one more reason to go with a group). Yes, people do go without a permit, but I urge you not to.

Inagua pics on shutterstock