Walking in the Monte Del Agua Rainforest

Yesterday, I spent the day walking in the Monte Del Agua rain forest, one of the most scenically stunning locations on the island. Tucked away in the north-western corner of the island between the village of Erjos and the the town of Los Silos some 3,000ft below, it is a remnant of the laurisilva forest that once covered southern Europe and North Africa. Tenerife is home to some of the only remaining pockets of this ancient forest making it one of the few locations where you can still walk through this remarkable landscape. As one would expect, it is often cloudy and damp in this region and yesterday was no exception as I left behind the blue, cloudless skies of the south for the overcast and humid, albeit dry, conditions of the forest. Clouds scudded across the hilltops on the descent to Los Silos as I admired the abundant flora along the way, with fantastic views opening up of the surrounding barrancos and laurel clad mountains. The descent into Los Silos is around 11 kilometres with the return trip to Erjos being only around 5.5 kilometres. This is not the advantage that it may seem however, as the whole return trip is steeply uphill, a very tiring walk of around two hours. Despite this, I arrived back in Erjos five hours later, weary but elated at having enjoyed a marvellous walk in a beautiful part of the island. Video below.