Land of the Giant Cacti - Fuerteventura Canary Islands (PHOTO ESSAY)

Honey I Shrunk The Kids

The Canary Isles

are a chain of Volcanic Islands off the North Coast of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. In the Southern part of Fuerteventura there is a cactus garden with cacti as big as a house. It's an incredible place to visit and can make the visitor feel as small as an insect. I am used to seeing these cacti in little pots, maybe a few inches across and there are so many specimens dotted across the hills, it takes hours to get round them all.

The Islands

which include Lanzarote, La Palma, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Gomera and a few smaller ones are Spanish territory and were inhabited for many generations before the Spanish turned up and colonised them. Here are some photos from my trip to the amazing Cactus Garden. The Canary Islands are home to quite a few famous Cactus Gardens. Cacti are native to the Americas and grow in desert conditions.

Due to their latitude

The Canaries are warm all year round and these volcanic moonscapes are one the most intriguing and beguiling places I've ever visited. Each Island is different and has it's own character. Fuerteventura has an epic extension of the Sahara Desert at it's Northern End with huge sand dunes, looking every bit like Tatooine in Star Wars, (which was actually filmed in Tunisia) and endless fields of seemingly barren lava cinder. It also has some incredible beaches in the South like Costa Calma.

Although Volcanic

the islands are not lifeless. Fuerteventura, like other islands also has a lot of Aloe Vera growing and this is made into edibles and skin products for export around the world. La Palma is full of Banana plantations. The Cactus garden in Fuerteventura which I visited has some gigantic examples of Aloe and they can grow for up to twenty years before flowering. They grow a huge tree like flowering structure which expends so much the energy the plant dies afterwards. It's a truly epic way to reproduce, although they do also produce clones which grow out of the mother plant

Huge Barrel Cactus

live in groups and some of the larger Saguaro ( the Classic Western) tree like species reach up into the sky 10metres. There is a lot of life in the Cactus Garden. Smaller creatures seek refuge from predators among the spines. I saw an elegant spider's web strewn across the top of a very spiny array replete with egg cluster. Doves sat in the branches and I also saw a giant cricket, camouflaged in the fronds of a large fan palm.

The Cacti or Cactuses

(which is equally permissable a phrase) cultivated here are native to Central America and were originally brought back mostly from the deserts of Mexico and by Spanish explorers. Popular in mainland Spain, The Canaries climate suits them well.

The Sight of so Many

large cactuses planted together really did give me the feeling of being as small as a tiny insect. I am used to seeing these species as tiny specimens in 3 inch pots. It was quite epic. I'm not sure how old these are. My Dad had one when we were little which was about 8 inches across and that was nearly ten years old. I think some of the original specimens here could easily be thirty of forty years. They are very impressive in the flesh.

These Giant flowering structures

on the Agaves are quite a thing to behold. It almost seems like a whole new plant unrelated to the mass of spiny leaves which it grows from. It is very Jurassic looking and the thick juicy stem is just a carrier for the seeds to be blown on the wind after the plant flowers. The flowers can be quite stunning looking like a Bird of Paradise flower and then the whole thing dies. These structures here are 8-10mtr high.

Prickly Pear are one of my favourite Cacti.

They look like Mickey Mouse ears and the way they grow is unusual. In the summer they put out a new leaf and then it expands like a balloon over a week or so. I grew one from a single leaf into a large specimen with a dozen or so. I have seen them in Spain the size of hedgerows. They produce a fruit which makes a delicious preserve or jam, (If you can negotiate the tough, sharp spines they come covered in.)

Euphorbia,

which are not true cactuses but cacti looking succulents grow into huge colonies. They are one of my favourite succulents and this is a very impressive colony. A true cactus must have spines and hairs coming out of the same follicle. Euphorbia often have the spines or none at all.

The tough leaves of an Aloe

are designed by nature to hold lots of water. Aloe Vera are filled with a sticky gel like substance which makes an excellent skin product. Certain types of similar (but not related) plants; Agave are very sugary and are used as the base ingredient in Tequila.* Their similarity is an example of convergent evolution and their nearest common ancestor is actually over 90m years ago in the age of the Dinosaurs.

I've been a fan of cactus since I was a small kid and I still keep many species at home. (similar to these specimens these pictured here on sale at the Cactus Garden shop.) I grew some from seed from this shop, which is technically quite tricky and some of my favourite succulent, Lithops, which look like and are commonly known as living stones. From 100 seeds I germinated 40 tiny plants. From those forty about a dozen survived their first year as tiny pin pricks. In their 3rd year I have four lovely specimens left. 2 in each pot.

sample image data - 1/125 secs @f5.6 @ISO 125 Nikon 14-50mm