Not far from the desert coasts of the Sahara, along the rough tops of the Canary island of La Gomera, there is the shelter of one of the most peculiar and emblematic Spanish forests. The persistent fog wrapping, which rises from the ocean and hangs on the island tops, pervading them with coolness and humidity, allows for the existence of these wonderful and mysterious woods, representing the last vestige of the ancient sub-tropical forests which grew in the Mediterranean area millions of years ago.
The Canary laurisilva, an ecosystem of the Tertiary which disappeared from the continent after the climate change of the Quaternary, finds shelter in the foggy areas of the Canary islands. Garajonay is the best preserved example of such ecosystem, and it hosts more than half of laurisilva mature woods growing on the archipelago. The National Park also features a great variety of vegetation types, a large number of endemic species and spectacular geological monuments, Los Roques.
