WILDERNESS TRAILS

Take a walk on the wild side with Spice as we curate some of the most engaging journeys for the adventurous of spirit and curious of nature.

- SONIA NAZARETH

The human spirit is drawn to the unique and individual. This need is amply satisfied when in nature. Possibly as important as donning good walking shoes is packing an adventurous spirit for these journeys of discovery, that stand as a sharp antidote to the excesses and strains of modern life. Nature and wild places, biosphere reserves and forests, even city gardens, and waterways, allow the transition from more circumscribed living into realms of introspective respite.

Volcanic High, Teide, Spain

As far as the eyes can see, are shimmering mounds of ash, sprawling plains, cavernous gorges, and scree slopes. I'm driving through the UNESCO world heritage-listed Teide National Park, the largest park of its kind in the Canary Islands, Spain. Looming large over the 135-square km scape, is the Teide volcano after which the park is named. At 12,198 ft above sea level, Teide is also the highest volcanic structure in the Atlantic Ocean islands, and third in the world.

As much a subject of scrutiny in Teide National Park, is the crater or caldera that goes by the name of Las Canadas. At 80 mt in diameter, walled by multicoloured rocks, with volcanic peaks rising from it, it is a five-star haven of geological forms. Here black shiny obsidian blocks. There pumice and black volcanic ejecta. Everywhere ochre plains of sandy deposits. Further along, the otherworldly formation of Roques De Garcia, a knot of rocks that look forged out of some deep subconscious, are essential viewing. The iconic Roque Cinchado column, points a lofty finger to the sky.