Cueva del Viento
During
April 2014 I was on a family holiday in Tenerife and had the opportunity to
visit Cueva del Viento, the longest lava cave in the European Union with some 18.5
km of passages The Cueva del Viento (Cave of the Wind) is a volcanic cavity
located in the district of Icod de los Vinos bearing the same name. Formed 27,000 years ago in
basaltic lavas from the Pico
Viejo volcano during its first eruptive phase, it is located in the foothills
of Mount Teide. It is also the longest lava cave outside Hawaii and fifth
longest in the world. The cave has a multi-language website with full details
of how to book a trip and is open every day from 9:00 hrs to 16:00 hrs from
Tuesday to Saturday. A
section of the cave is open to the public as an unlit section of showcave.
Lamps and helmets are provided by the management did a bit of research before I
went and discovered that the only days the English language tour takes place is
on a Tuesday and Wednesday. We were only there for a week starting on a Tuesday
so we would have to visit on a Wednesday. I emailed the cave and got a reply in
English to confirm us booked on a tour starting at 1:00 pm. We were staying in
an apartment on Puerto de la Cruz about 10 miles to the east along the coast
from the cave. The cave is located on the volcanic slopes above the town of
Icod de los Vinos on the north coast of the island. (See location map Fig. 1.)
The original intention had been
for all four of us to go on the visit to the cave but as it was only the day
after we arrived and rather a rush to get organised it would be just be Elliot,
my eldest son, and I. The first issue was how to get from our apartment to the
cave. From a walking guide I had on Tenerife I found out that there were buses
from Puerto to Icod every hour so. On arriving the previous evening I found out
the walking route to the bus station and bought two travel passes for the
journey next day (only 5 Euros each return). The 354 bus takes an hour to get
to Icod so next morning we caught the 10:30 bus and asked the driver to drop us
off at Plaza El Cavario rather than at the terminus in Icod to shorten the
walk. The bus journey was certainly value for money as it went a long way round through all
sorts of mountain villages and tight hairpin bends over big drops. What I had
not bargained for was the very steep walk uphill to the cave visitor’s centre
from the Plaza. This took us just over an hour and is about 2miles on a very
warm and sunny day. We got there very hot and bothered and a few minutes late
at 12:35. On arrival we found out that a taxi ride is the preferred option from
the centre of Icod and only costs 4 Euros!
The normal charge for the visit is
16 Euros but I got talking to the guide Dragan Milenkovic, a Serbian, and he
said as we were “International speleologists” he would charge us only 10 Euros
each. (Looking good so far I had saved 20 Euros). The visitors’ centre is just
off the road up a short cul-de-sac and contains an interpretation centre with
toilets and a cloakroom to leave your extra gear, no rucksacks etc in the cave.
There is a taberna named after the cave opposite for light refreshments. We
were first shown a video about the formation of lava caves, which was quite
informative, even to me with my geological knowledge. I was surprised to find
that there are over 250 known lava caves on Tenerife and over 80 of these have
been explored and mapped so far. The cave contains four species of insects only
found in caves on Tenerife.
After
the introductory talk we were equipped with lights and helmets and taken to the
minibus as the cave is some way from the visitors centre up a steep hill and
dirt track to a parking area. There are seven entrances to the system spread
out along the mountainside and they are all skylight entrances where the roof
has collapsed in to the passage below. The cave is no more than a couple of
metres below the surface throughout its length. The walk from the car park took
a while as Dragan pointed out various surface features relating to the local
igneous geology and plant life. The walk will took us through an area of
foothills, farms and canary pine forests and along an ancient bridle path.
Eventually we came to an entrance covered with a large steel grill. This was
the original entrance where an old woman herding goats had fall some 10 metres
down a hole into the cave about 100 years ago. A short distance on is the main
entrance with a set of steps leading down to the first of the levels in the
cave. The cave has three layers with connecting shafts, the lower level
containing the largest passage up to 15 meters high. The underground part of
the tour lasts about an hour and Elliot but I managed to wander off into
several side passages and along the main way on beyond the show section of the
cave, which extended our tour! The guide did not seem too bothered. This
portion was selected to open to the public as being that which would suffer the
least environmental impact, in accordance with the environmental studies
performed, whilst presenting various geomorphological formations representative
of the cavern as a whole. We were equipped with camera, flashguns and slave
units, as I had already established that we would be able to take
photographs. Numerous photographs were
taken, some of which appear here. A lot of work had been carried out to make
the show cave section safe for tourists to use. The state of the roof has been
inspected and in some places security underpinnings have been made with the
placement of the 79 anchor rods that secure the roof. He pointed these out to
me.
Near the entrance Near the
end
Dragan
explained in some detail how the passages had been formed and how secondary
mineralization had taken place with deposits of calcite and lava stalactites
formed in places. From a geomorphological perspective, the Cueva del Viento
features a wide variety of structures such as lava stalactites, lava cascades,
side terraces, oxbow passages and lava lakes among others, as well as exogenous
concretions of different composition (calcium carbonate, cristobalite, and
other silica compounds).
Longer
exploration trips are available on a Saturday when exploration of some 4 km of
passage is possible. Might try that next time.
An
added bonus after the trip was that Dragan finished work at 4:00 pm and offered
us a lift back to the Puerto junction on the motorway. He assured us that it
was only a 1 Km walk downhill back to our apartment. This proved to be the
case. By the time we had our packed lunch, bought a drink and ice-cream for the
taberna it was time to go. I would certainly recommend the trip if you want a
different day out while in Tenerife.
If you
are in Tenerife and fancy a visit bare the following in mind:
- English tours only on a
Tuesday and Wednesday
- Wear suitable clothing, long
trousers and stout footwear.
- Animals are not allowed.
- The guided routes are made with
16 persons each one; if you are late, you will lose the option to
participate. At 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00.
- It is advisable to reserve
at least one day before your visit by phone at the Cueva del Viento
Visitor Centre. Phone:+34 922 81 53 39 or by e-mail. info@cuevadelviento.net
- Children must be at least 5
years old. Also people, who get claustrophobia and those with problems in
knees and ankles, should consider the entrance.