Crossbill Guide: Tenerife and La Gomera, Canary Islands – Spain

What’s new in the second print published in 2024? The complete text of all chapters has been checked and updated to the current situation. Routes have also been checked and changed where needed. All in all, this resulted in numerous small changes. Furthermore, GPS coordinates have been added to the route points and site descriptions to facilitate navigation.

This title in the Crossbill Guides Series covers Tenerife and La Gomera, the two most diverse of the Canary Islands. This guidebook describes the nature of these islands from the sun-soaked lava fields on the coast to the lonely snow-capped peak of mount Teide, including routes and background info on landscape, flora and fauna.

• Landscape history
• Ecosystems
• Geology
• Flora and Fauna
• Where to watch birds
• Finding orchids and other wildflowers
• 13 detailed routes with tips for finding wildlife and 41 site descriptions

Crossbill Guide: Tenerife and La Gomera offers a mix of walking routes and car routes with stops and short walks. All the walks in this book, including some more challenging ones, are designed to explore the landscape and find birds and wildlife rather than covering ground.

Tenerife and La Gomera are the most diverse islands of the Canaries. Set in a dramatic landscape, these are islands of extremes: from sun-baked, shrubby lava fields to evergreen cloud forests, and from lush terraced mountain slopes to the strange high-altitude semi-desert in the crater of the Teide volcano – each corner is a different world. Only two ingredients are constant: spectacular scenery and an endemic flora and fauna. Over 30% of the wildflowers of Tenerife and La Gomera occur nowhere else in the world but here, hence the title the ‘Galapagos of botany’ sometimes given to the islands. Likewise, the birds, the reptiles and butterflies have evolved into a unique fauna. Hence, these islands are a must-see for anyone with a passion for the natural world. This book is designed to be your companion on your explorations.