Lava, lichen, locusts and lizards - Lanzarote

Wild volcanic landscape in Timanfaya National Park.

Despite the howling winds and erratic bus service, we've managed to see a reasonable amount of Lanzarote. It's a bit dry and dusty for our taste, but it has a certain arid beauty of its own.

Desert - Lanzarote's interior.

Locust, hidden amongst the lava and lichen.

Entrance to the secret free lava tube, 

There's a section of the same tube a few hundred metres away which charges €8 a head entry. We'd heard about this secret free section and spent several hours there entirely by ourselves, exploring as much as a kilometre along the cave towards the volcano, with no end in sight. It would be fun to follow it to the limit.

Inside the tube - a breakthrough to the tube below.

Inside out (see if you can spot Sonja).

Weathered rock.

Chomp!

 We had our lunch snack sitting outside the cave entrance. Apple core disposal was not a problem. The moment it touched down there were lizards honing in on it from all directions - incredible! The one in the photo was the first to reach the core. Things got a bit ugly when the next lizard arrived.

Apple-loving Atlantic lizard.

Lava, lichen and hardy plants.

Windmill for pumping water to salt pans.

Off to Graciosa tomorrow, after spending an entire day today cleaning away the horrible dust deposited on the boat by the recent strong winds.

Guess which way the wind was blowing.