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Laurissilva a UNESCO world heritage

The Madeiran sub tropical laurel forest is covering great part of the island, known as Laurissilva inThe Parque Natural.

The forest is mainly composed of different laurel trees like Til, Vinhático, Loureiro and Barbosano , hosting a lot of different smaller endemic plants, mosses and lichens.

Before the Ice Age this kind of forest was found in other part of the Mediterranean Basin, but now it is located to the islands of Macaronesia, covering 22 % of Madeira, mostly on the northern slopes of the island. Some of the trees are old, and it is said that the first settlers in the island were counting the year rings and told that these trees had been planted by God himself.

Scrub is growing everywhere and some of the forest has been invaded by other plants, like wild passion fruit.
It can be reached by trails and levadas.
The forest is humid, a great precipice of water. A great variety of insects and birds can be found there.

Since 1999 the Laurissilva is declared a UNESCO world heritage.

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Activities

• Snorkelling
• Sea water pools
• Scuba diving
• Fishing
• Surfing
• Sailing and Boattrips
• Deep sea fishing
• Beach
• Whale and dolphin watching
• Golf
• Horse riding
• Tennis
• Hiking and Trekking, Footpath and Mountain walks.
• Levadas – the traditional waterways
• Canyoning
• Flowers
• Paragliding
• Mountainbiking
• Motorbikes
• Roundtrips
• Swimming
• Bird Watching
• Festivals
• Laurissilva a UNESCO world heritage