Montaña de Tindaya

Fuerteventura has a lot of natural spaces, one of the best known belongs to the municipality of La Oliva, just 6 kilometers from the Atlantic coast, is the Tindaya Mountain.

This mountainous formation is in the Llano de Esquinzo and reaches a height close to 400 meters being considered the most emblematic natural element of Fuerteventura.

Speaking of its morphology Tindaya is a trachyte python in a pyramidal form, it is imposing at the same time that it is solitary in the plains of Esquinzo, very close to the town of the same name and in the northwestern part of Fuerteventura.

It is believed that the Montaña de Tindaya was formed approximately 18.7 million years ago and according to studies may be one of the first formations that emerged on the island, in the large building of the Tetir shield. This shield of volcanic origin was the result of erosion over hundreds of millions of years that were eroding the basalt rocks from which they were formed, thus revealing the quartz-trachytic rocks that resisted this erosion over the millennia and what today is Tindaya.

At the base of the mountain there are small quarries that are currently in disuse that was exploited some time ago by private companies.

Despite appearing to be a desert place, there is a very curious flora and fauna. Regarding the flora, there are endemic species of the Canary Islands, for example the cuernúa or the Jarao. Regarding the fauna, birds, such as the alcarava, the Saharan runner, partridge moruna or the trumpeter bullfinch among others stand out.In steeper areas there is the common kestrel, the crow canary or the guirre majonero.

The mountain of Tindaya has always been surrounded by a halo of magic, it is an area of high archaeological value and vestiges of the celebration of magical or religious rites have been found. Nearby is the Cueva del Bailadero de las Brujas or the Caves of the Bailaderos de Los Pastores.