CORRALEJO NATURAL PARK

Classified as a protected natural park, the sand dunes face the volcanic island of Los Lobos. A way to get a little taste of the Sahara without the fear of getting lost in it. This small Sahara, wedged between the sea and the volcanoes, is 10 km long and 2 km wide. A white sandy shoreline bordered by turquoise water, which suddenly turns dark blue away from the edge. This landscape stretches for about ten kilometres along the east coast, from the overcrowded Oliva Beach in the north to the small deserted coves of the Costa Roja in the south. The road to Puerto del Rosario runs along this coastline, often traversed by the sand wind.

The coastal desert continues on the other side of the road: on either side of the road you will see small crescent dunes formed by the wind. Fortunately, this park is protected and only a few slightly invasive constructions have been maintained.

Towards the interior, the dunes soon give way to a plain of white sand, where the wind has made do with a few drapes, and then to a steppe with rare vegetation. The horizon is bounded to the north by the sea and to the south by the Montaña Roja, a drained crater with a folded interior and red slopes, reaching a height of 312m.

This daytime burning landscape becomes spectacular in the few minutes before sunset. It disappears behind the rump of the Bayuyo volcano, whose black lava fields invade the desert to the west.