Tenerife, a lifer and lots of non-herp stuff.

The gf and I had a quick holiday in the Canary island of Tenerife. Not really a herping holiday, but of course had to put some effort into spotting a lifer. The island hasn't got any snakes, the two amphibian species have been introduced, but it's got three endemic lizard species.





We spent most of our holiday hiking the island's beautiful trails and enjoying the gorgeous nature. Our first hike was around Cruz del Carmen in the Anaga mountains. It has a nice laurel forest and good potential for coming across the endemic skink (Chalcides viridanus).







We stopped for lunch and I was looking for lizards. Suddenly a skink popped out from a stone fence. A lifer for me!














Next day we went to Icod to see the famous dragon tree (Dracaena draco) which is claimed to be between a thousand or two thousand years old, although it's real age is somewhere between 250 and 350 years. The tree is impressive enough, but the real reason for the visit was the "tame" Gallotia galloti eisentrauti. We pretty much ignored the tree and had a great time feeding the lizards apple (see videos).













A couple of videos. More of them on my channel:
https://youtu.be/yKeQ38L2WAQ
https://youtu.be/S2n1gbOtdKs

(Disclaimer: I catch a male in the second video. This was done only to get better photos of the nuptial patches. The lizard was released after photography).

That's pretty much all the herping. Here are some other photos:

Gorgeous views from one of our walks in the Anaga mountains. You can see Roque de Fuera de Anaga in the background. It's a small islet with an endemic subspecies, Gallotia galloti insulanagae.






















Roque de las Bodegas:







Spent a day in the Teide volcano national park. It's got amazing scenery and has been used in the filming of several films, including the original Planet of the Apes.





Dried Echium wildpretii inflorescences. The plant is an endemic and produces a 1-3m tall inflorescence every second year.





We had permits to climb the Teide summit. Hard work climbing to 3718m.



















I also had a surprise planned for the summit. When we got up, I popped the big question and got a "yes". It was worth carrying a bottle of bubbly all that way.


Back in cold Finland now and dying to go on holiday again.

Cheers,

Martti

Hello Martti,

thank you for taking us to that trip. I especially love the Gallotias and I always have since I kept some decades ago. They are very special Lacertids. Your photos really show their beauty.

I wish both of you all the best for your future, resulting from your question.

Rainer

Looks like you had a great trip. I enjoyed all of your photos, I would like to visit there one day.

Cool pictures and congrats on the "yes"!

So nice ¡¡ ....so you see laurisilva on La gomera hehe i must come there anytime ¡¡
thanks for share ¡¡

cheers ¡¡ and ...happy new year for all ¡¡

Very cool pictures and videos, it was funny seeing the lizards just come right up and take the pieces. Congrats as well!

Carlos Villalba wrote:

So nice ¡¡ ....so you see laurisilva on La gomera hehe i must come there anytime ¡¡
thanks for share ¡¡

La Gomera would be a very interesting destination. Maybe next year, as we really liked spending the non-denominational end-of-year celebration somewhere warm.

just beautifull!!!

Great photography Martti! I enjoyed the narrative as well.

Nice to see great pictures of flora and landscapes. Besides the four-legs.

Dramatic views.