Tag: Lanzarote

Island hopping

>Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator
(>Pictures at the bottom!)

Fuerteventura and Lanzarote
Fuerteventura is considered the oldest island of the Canary archipelago and, like Lanzarote, very desert-like. In places you even have the impression of moving through a lunar landscape. The volcanic activity in the past is omnipresent. After fine volcanic ash, you bump over hardened lava fields and follow the former lava flow towards the sea, where the surf has already left its deep traces after thousands of years.
It is also very astonishing that peoples from North Africa settled here a very long time ago and were able to extract the necessities of life from the barren soil. Thanks to the few water sources and streams, they were able to plant the bare necessities on the very fertile volcanic soil, and their success led to regular raids of the islands in prehistoric times.
Today, piracy is over, but without irrigation, most crops would wither in no time. Human help is omnipresent for the palms or other plants. Groundwater extraction led to the lowering of the water table in many places. The many defective, collapsed and old water pumps that are at the mercy of their fate are probably a clear indication of this.
Besides the irrigation of agricultural crops, tourism also has a great “thirst for water”, which is provided thanks to desalination plants and thermal power plants provide the necessary power. A vicious circle! Read More