Some of Lanzarote’s wildlife is as strange and wonderful as anything you might see in the world. Here’s a selection of some of the strangest and most spectacular sights that you may be lucky enough to see.

VULTURE

The Egyptian vulture is gradually gaining a foothold on Lanzarote after being almost wiped out. It’s an unmistakeable bird – the largest bird of prey on the island – and can sometimes be seen soaring high above the ground.

When it’s closer to earth, its presence may be given away by smaller birds, who often mob the large predator noisily, in an attempt to drive it away.

FLYING FISH

No one tells you that there are flying fish in the seas here, so the first time you see one – usually leaping from the wake of the ferry to Fuerteventura, or a smaller boat – is a real thrill.

The sight is astonishing, a glittering, silver fish whirring its wing-like fins and sailing twenty metres or more over the seas. The fish do this to escape predators, but what takes them out of sight of the larger fish hunting them gives passengers an unforgettable glimpse of wildlife.

HOOPOE

This handsome bird, with its peach pink plumage, bold black-and-white wing and tail bars and unmistakeable crest, can often be seen making its characteristic dipping flight in areas of scrubby wasteland. Like the grey shrike, it’s one of those birds that´s rare in northern Europe but fairly easy to spot on Lanzarote.

STINGRAY

Often huge, these amazing creatures are usually seen by divers and snorkellers. They can be big, sometimes up to two metres in length, and they glide over the seabed like stealth bombers. You’ll usually need to get wet to spot one, but there are places on the island where stingrays patrol piers, jetties and sea walls and can be seen by passers-by.

STICK INSECT

This is a weird one. The stick insect looks like a dried twig or piece of straw and would go unnoticed if it didn’t have the signs of symmetry that are shared by most insects. It also moves, scuttling along the floor like a tiny giraffe. It a relative of the mantis, which you may also be lucky enough to see in inland areas.

DEATH’S HEAD HAWK MOTH

This is the moth that is featured in the film The Silence of the Lambs, named for the skull-shaped pattern on it’s back. It’s large caterpillars munch the euphorbia plants that bloom in spring, and the moth emerges in the summer. Despite its fearsome name and reputation, it’s completely harmless, but if you do try to touch it you may get another surprise – it squeaks!

GECKO

The commonest reptile on the island after the Atlantic lizard, the gecko is a drab fellow that usually lives under rocks, wood and dry leaves. At night, though, it comes out to hunt and can often be seen climbing vertical walls. If there’s a nightlight, you may spot it in a dramatic pose nearby, as it hunts insects attracted to the brightness.

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David Riebold visits the oldest examples of design on the island, the mysterious Queseras carved by ancient native islanders. Photos by Clare Carter Osborne.

“If you like Southend-on-sea, you will love Puerto del Carmen” is a truism for some but not me. I’m Southend born and bred but I never much cared for the place and so, although the beer here is cheaper, and the beaches hugely better, the type of mass tourism that this island attracts has limited appeal for me. I’m very happy to reside far from Puerto in sleepy Haria; lovely friendly people, stunning landscape and the fascinating flora that has become a major interest.

I increasingly hear passionate indignation from some fellow Brits resident here about the supposed effects of immigration ‘back home’, and am a little puzzled that these folk are apparently unaware that they are themselves immigrants, too often ignorant of the local culture that their arrival here is rapidly eradicating. I might find myself even more provoked by this obvious hypocrisy were it not for some ambiguity of sentiment among the local population.

By the time of the final Spanish conquest, five centuries ago, the native Majo population (a Berber-descended tribe of the Guanches who arrived here around 1000 BCE) had already been severely reduced by European-introduced diseases and slave raids. As a result the few hundred survivors made peace with the Spanish colonists and intermarriage became common.

The population that encountered the first wave of tourism in the ’60’s were descendants of Spanish settlers and the Majos. Talking to local people, a fierce pride in their unique history soon becomes apparent alongside an awareness of distinctions between them and people on the Spanish mainland. At the same time this pride seems tinged with the fact that for centuries, the island was a neglected backwater of Spain and a hardship posting for civil servants, where living conditions for many were effectively stone age. Perhaps this knowledge explains the neglect of this island’s ancient constructions.

Many of the island’s prehistoric remains were buried or destroyed by the Timanfaya eruption and others may be lost under our main rubbish dump in Zonzamas. That name comes from the Majo town that existed there, an important hub of island civilization between the 5th and 8th centuries. The siting of the dump was a deliberate policy of the Franco regime, who tried to eliminate all traces of the native Canarians.

I would like to mention just one of the ancient constructions in that region which can be found by driving to the Zonzamas rubbish dump – half-way along the road that takes you from the Manrique foundation to San Bartolome. Park beside the entrance to the dump and walk along the track (on your left, facing the entrance) for about 20 mins. Look out for a faded signpost, slightly uphill, to the left of the path. Here lies the Quesera of Zonzamas; five channels. up to half a metre deep, carved into the basalt rock. Even with modern power tools this would be a major undertaking, quite how this was managed so long ago is an enigma.

The name quesera refers to a cheeseboard and I have been told, variably, that the name is linked to the carvings’ resemblance to a giant cheese mould or to cheese having been placed inside as an ‘offering’ to ancient gods. I don’t find either account convincing and believe that the carvings have nothing to do with cheese but are instead a solar/lunar calendar since they are aligned with solstices and equinoxes. One remarkable observation is that one of the carved strips appears to indicate the addition of an extra day to maintain calendar accuracy, similar to leap years in modern calendars.

We are nowadays constantly dazzled by the marvels of modern technology, sometimes forgetting the input of past generations. As Newton famously said; ‘If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants’ – I would suggest that these stone-age scientists who first started to make sense of their environment are true giants and deserve far more honour than they get here. David Shilham, the local photographer (do check out his work on Facebook!), took me to a couple of smaller ‘queseras’, one in Yaiza, the other near the Jameos del Agua, both lacking even the rusting signpost that you will find at Zonzamas. He suggested that perhaps such obscurity is best as it avoids graffiti and vandalism. Do you agree, or do you perhaps share my view that these primitive technologists who started with so little, deserve more respect than contemporary equivalents like Elon Musk, who started with so much?

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The timple is the most famous of Canarian traditional instruments – a tiny five-stringed guitar whose piercing, high-pitched melodies give an unmistakeably Canarian touch to folk groups.

If you want to discover more about the timple, simply find the two bronze lions in Teguise’s central square, both of whom are facing the Palacio de Spínola, a singlestorey white building with six large brown shuttered windows and three steps leading to a doorway.

The Timple Museum guides you through the history of the instrument, from its earliest ancestors in baroque Italy to global members of the stringed instrument family such as the Russian balalaika or the west African kora.

One room recreates the workshop of a luther, showing how the timple is carefully constructed from pine, rosewood and orange wood, and another room displays several varieties of timples, including modern ones made from carbon fibre or 3D printed plastic.

But every bit as interesting as the museum is the building itself. The Palacio de Spínola is the best example of a stately home in Teguise and was renovated in the 70s with décor by César Manrique. As you enter, you’ll see the private chapel that was used by the owners and as you pass through the museum you can’t help but be impressed by the austere, simple Spanish colonial style of the mansion, with plain white walls and uncarved wooden fittings.

Beyond the museum you’ll see an interior patio with a well in the centre, and the original kitchen and dining room of the home. Upper storeys, usually closed to the public, can be seen at the rear of the building and were where bedchambers were located.

An open air passageway is lined with destiladeras, the stone water filters festooned with maidenhair ferns, that were widely used on the Canaries. It leads to an outdoor patio with an aljibe (water tank), a fig tree, two shaggy palm trees and an ornamental staircase. You’ll also find two more lions here – these are the original concrete ones that stood in the square from 1922 until 2005.

The Timple Museum is open from 10 am – 4 pm Mon to Sat, 10 am to 3 pm on Sundays. Entry is €3 (€1.80 Lanzarote residents, free for Teguise residents.)

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Did you know that the historic streets of San Antonio, Texas, were once walked by a mayor from Teguise? A little-known chapter of Lanzarote’s history, stretching back almost three centuries, reveals a deep and living connection between the island and the United States, particularly in Texas and Louisiana.

It’s a story of families who crossed the Atlantic in search of opportunity, taking their culture with them and leaving a legacy that can still be explored on the island today.

The story begins in the era of Christopher Columbus. The Canary Islands were the final known landfall for his ships before the journey into the Atlantic unknown. These stopovers were crucial for stocking up on seeds, animals, and recruiting Canarians who would become some of the first settlers in the New World.

To understand the scale of this history, one need only visit Teguise, the old capital of Lanzarote. In the 15th century, it was the island’s economic heart, its prosperity reflected in the palatial and stately architecture that still defines the town. A stroll through its cobbled streets and squares, which preserve the original layout from the period, is a step back in time. Key sites include the 15th-century Church of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, a colonial-style gem.

For a more dramatic glimpse into the past, the Castillo de Santa Bárbara – a fortress that witnessed pirate raids between the 15th and 18th centuries – now houses a museum. For the truly adventurous, the pages of María José Tabar’s 2015 book, Piratas de Leyenda, bring to life the chilling history of the Callejón de la Sangre (Alley of Blood), named for the 1586 massacre by Morato Arráez.

This transatlantic exchange wasn’t just about people; it was about survival. The ships that stopped here loaded their holds with Lanzarote’s resources: wheat, barley, chickpeas, figs, and the island’s resilient goats, prized for their adaptability and milk production. These products, part of the “Columbian Exchange,” were unknown in the Americas before their introduction.

The good news is that this agricultural heritage is not just history. The island has preserved its traditional crops, as seen in the stunning wine-growing landscape of La Geria and the unique terrain of El Jable. Today, we can still taste this legacy in the island’s wonderful variety of artisan goat’s cheeses and other local delicacies. Visitors can explore this further at the Bodegas El Grifo, the oldest winery in the Canaries.

The most direct human link to the US was forged by a royal decree. The 1678 “blood tribute” stipulated that for every hundred tons of goods exported from the Canaries, five families had to embark for America. This policy led to the settlement of Louisiana and Puerto Rico and the founding of cities like Montevideo and San Antonio de Béjar -modern-day San Antonio, Texas.

In a remarkable piece of local history, the first mayor of that fledgling Texan settlement in 1731 was Juan Leal Goraz, a native of Teguise.

This incredible story is meticulously documented in the book Estadounidenses con Pasado Lanzaroteño by José Juan Romero Cruz, which reconstructs Lanzarote’s role in over 40 historical milestones in the Americas.

Today, the legacy is kept alive by associations like the Canary Islands Descendants Association and has been formally renewed with a recent twinning agreement between Lanzarote and San Antonio, strengthening cultural, economic, and tourist ties for the future.

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Scientists have established that the aepyornis, or elephant bird – one of the largest birds ever to exist – lived on Lanzarote four million years ago.

In 2012, paleontologists investigating the Valle Grande, Valle Chico and Fuente de Gusa, ancient valleys and springs located in the north of Lanzarote near Órzola, discovered the fossilized remains of around ten large eggs.

Years later, in 2020 they announced that the eggs had belonged to long-extinct varieties of ratites, large flightless birds from the ostrich family. It was the first such discovery on the Canaries and posed a mystery of its own to experts.

The mystery was: how did large flightless birds get to Lanzarote? The Canary Islands were created by volcanic eruptions in the ocean, and have never been connected to the African mainland, where ratites were usually found.

Theories for how other species have reached the island generally rely on them being brought by birds or floating over on clumps of vegetation. This “raft theory” was thought to be the most likely explanation for the Lanzarote mystery.

Now, scientist Antonio Sánchez and his team have announced that the eggs found 13 years ago were not ostriches, but aepyornis eggs. The aepyornis, or elephant bird, is one of the largest birds that ever existed measuring up to 3 metres in height and weighing up to 500 kilos.

These vast birds have excited imaginations for generations. In Aepyornis Island, a short story by sciencefiction pioneer H.G. Wells, a scientist raises an Aepyornis after hatching it from an egg, but is eventually attacked and persecuted by the gigantic, bad-tempered bird.

Sánchez also believes he has a simple answer to the mystery of how the large flightless birds reached Lanzarote: “They swam,” he says. “There’s no other possibility, and ostriches, emus and other ratites are good swimmers.”

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Lanzarote’s otherworldly landscape has long made it a favourite for filmmakers seeking a dramatic, alien backdrop. But for fans of the iconic British series Doctor Who, the island holds a special place in television history as the real-world location for a pivotal chapter in the Time Lord’s adventures.

The universe’s most famous Time Lord last turned up on Lanzarote in 2014, when Peter Capaldi’s Doctor was filmed at the Volcán del Cuervo, among other locations.

But the first Doctor to park the Tardis here was Peter Davison in the 1984 series Planet of Fire. Unusually, an island that so often stands in for alien planets or prehistoric landscapes plays the holiday island of Lanzarote in this sci-fi series, in which the Doctor and his assistant Turlough encounter a holidaying American, Peri Brown, who would go on to become one of the Doctor’s favourite assistants.

The serial captured more than just a sci-fi story; it captured a moment of 1980s Lanzarote. In this clip we see Peri nearly drown off Papagayo, while the Doctor offers to pay for his drink with space creds in Orzola (we think – let us know if you’ve got a better idea).

So, the next time you’re hiking the volcanic trails of Cuervo or gazing out from the northern port of Orzola, remember you might be standing on a classic piece of Doctor Who history.

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Before they conquered the world, The Stone Roses took a trip to Lanzarote. The resulting videos, filmed for “Fool’s Gold” and “I Wanna Be Adored,” were a surreal fusion of cool swagger and otherworldly beauty that would help define an era.

In 1989 the Stone Roses had already had a moderate UK hit with I Wanna Be Adored, but it was the follow up single Fool’s Gold whose influence would echo through the decade to come and put Manchester at the centre of Britain’s musical map.

Stone Roses guitarist John Squire had holidayed on Lanzarote as a teenager, and his artistic eye had been caught by the island’s strange, volcanic landscapes. So it was at his suggestion that a film crew headed for the island to film videos to promote the new single and the US released of Adored.

Both videos are similar, the band play, walk and throw stones while Ian Brown does a bit of monkey dancing in front of scenes of Timanfaya, all beneath a sky that has been artificially transformed into a purple haze. It’s probably the introduction to Adored that captures Lanzarote’s peaceful beauty.

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Lanzarote’s volcanic terrain is a magnet for filmmakers. While many were drawn to its raw beauty, it was Wolfgang Petersen who harnessed its alien landscapes for a major feature: the sci-fi epic Enemy Mine.

German film makers such as Werner Herzog and Volker Schlöndorff journeyed to the wild landscapes of Lanzarote in their earlier, experimental years, but it was Wolfgang Peterson, who shot to fame with Das Boot and later went to film blockbusters such as Outbreak and The Perfect Storm, who returned to the island to make a big budget feature film.

Enemy Mine is a fascinating film that stars Dennis Quaid and Lou Gosset Jr as two space warriors stranded on a hostile planet. Much of the hostile planet is actually Timanfaya, with many scenes shot in what are now highly protected areas.

Lanzarote has stood in for space several times in film and TV, but this is probably the film that makes the most of the stark, volcanic scenery.

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The Bungalows of Famara are a reminder of the original foreign tourism pioneers on Lanzarote and the Canaries – not the British nor the Germans, but the Scandinavians.

If you head to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, take a moment to visit C/Luis Morote 41, just a street or two away from the stunning Canteras beach. Here you’ll find a cosy coffee shop, the Casa Suecia, that seems a little old-fashioned. But you may be surprised to learn that it was established by a Swedish couple in 1961, before tourism had even begun on Lanzarote.

Although the amount of Scandinavian tourists has declined in recent years, evidence of the strong Scandinavian presence in the 1960s and 1970s can still be seen. A good example is the presence of Fred Olsen, the shipping company that still forms one of the most important inter-island ferry services.

On Lanzarote, the Bungalows of Famara, nestled snugly beneath the Famara cliff, are one of the oldest tourist complexes on the island, a remnant of a time when planning laws were far more relaxed, and tourist development had not yet been restricted to three resort areas.

The bungalows were designed by Canarian architect Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre, brother of the famous symbolist artist Néstor. Miguel also created the famous Casa Néstor and Hotel Santa Catalina in las Palmas. Norwegian architect Per Órnulf Oien also collaborated on the project and the bungalows were constructed between 1969 and 1972 and marketed in that country.

The design of the bungalows, slightly sunken and surrounded by a curved wall of volcanic rock, is based on the zocos (the walled hollows that each contain a vine) of La Geria, and this design, as well as the natural low-lying nature of the bungalows, helps provide shelter for an area that can suffer some ferocious weather.

The Bungalows are a reminder of the “wild west” of Lanzarote planning, and some environmentalists have called for their demolition, but this seems unlikely, especially as they are among the most desirable properties on the island, with current owners including ex -Spanish Prime Minister José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero and model and actor Jon Kortajarena.

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Egrets are now a common sight on Lanzarote, but if you’d asked a few decades ago, locals may have replied “Egrets? We’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention.”

That’s because the elegant white birds have only been breeding on the island for a few decades. In the 1980s, an egret arrived on Arrecife’s seafront, apparently sick and way off course. The owner of a local kiosk cared for it and it remained in the Parque Ramirez Cerda until another egret arrived. The couple first made a nest and bred in 1988.

The initial couple soon multiplied, leading to substantial colony of egrets on Lanzarote – the only one of the Canary Islands where the bird is resident. By the mid-1990s, 400 birds were counted on the island and numbers have remained high ever since, occasionally reaching around 1,500.

Lanzarote isn’t the only place that has seen a booming egret population, however. The bird has colonised the Caribbean and North America within the last 100 years and now breeds in the southern United Kingdom and Ireland, too.

Most egrets you see on Lanzarote are cattle egrets, identifiable by their yellow beak, pale legs and occasional shaggy crest. They are wading birds, usually found close to shallow water, although cattle egrets are more likely to occupy farmland than other egrets.

SHIFTING THE EGRETS

For many years, Lanzarote’s egrets formed a large, noisy colony in the Parque Ramirez Cerda, on Arrecife’s seafront. But the permanent mess from their dropping and feathers, which made park benches impossible to sit on and caused a health hazard, led to the Ayuntamiento attempting to get rid of the birds.

This turned out to be an almost farcical tale, as the birds overcame all attempts to get rid of them. First, scarecrows were placed in the trees, but the egrets were soon seen perching alongside them, entirely unbothered.

Real and dummy birds of prey also failed to shift the birds, and they managed to ignore metal spikes that were placed on branches to prevent them roosting.

Finally, in 2009, the colony was removed and taken to a specially prepared wooded area of acacia trees near the Cabildo building and bus interchange. Nevertheless, they returned and Arrecife finally cut all the branches off its handsome trees altogether, before felling most of them.

The colony near the Cabildo remains resident, fenced off for the birds’ protection, but authorities have often been criticised for not clearing it of bird excrement, feathers and dead egrets.

The rapid rise of a non-native bird species has led to concern on the island. Some farmers worry that the egrets could spread disease among livestock, although there is no evidence supporting this theory. Meanwhile, ecologists worry that the egrets may compete with local species, leading to reduced population numbers. This also remains to be proven.

Egrets are also predators. On Lanzarote, they live mainly on lizards and crickets, but they will also take small rodents, and the chicks and eggs of other birds. This makes them a threat to endangered species such as the Canarian skink, the Canarian shrew, various plover species and the Cream-Coloured Courser. Nevertheless, the egret remains a protected species on Lanzarote, and the breeding population here remains unique.

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