- Organized by the Fundación Santa Cruz Sostenible, are free of charge and guided by specialized environmental monitors
- Two hours of fun and learning about this treasure trove of biodiversity specializing in the world's palms
Fundación Cepsa and Fundación Santa Cruz Sostenible are again offering free guided tours during the holiday season around the botanical gardens of the capital of Tenerife, the Palmetum de Santa Cruz. The tours will be given by botanists.
For the eighth consecutive year, both organizations are jointly offering, as part of their annual collaboration program, a recreational, learning, and environmental awareness activity for families to discover, learn about, and share this treasure of biodiversity specializing in the world's palm trees, located in the heart of the city. This free initiative has already introduced more than 3,700 people to this site in previous editions.
The first visit, which took place this morning, was attended by 65 participants in two shifts. During the tour, attendees can enjoy a lush botanical garden with an extraordinary collection of unique plants, the only one of its kind in Europe. In addition to contemplating, among others, exotic tropical plants from different and remote islands such as Madagascar, New Caledonia, Caribbean islands, and continents such as Africa, America, and Asia, attendees can also see true jewels of Canary Island plants. All this located between lagoons, waterfalls, sandy beaches, and viewpoints overlooking the sea and the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
With this type of initiatives, we want to bring back to the residents of the island this garden still unknown to many, a perfect setting for environmental education arising from the conversion of a landfill into a spectacular garden open to the public and focused on science and environmental education.
During the visit, particular emphasis was placed on the birdlife that can be observed in the Palmetum, which is studied and monitored every two weeks by SEO/BirdLife, also with the support of Fundación Cepsa, with the aim, among others, of establishing indicators of the state of conservation of biodiversity in this garden, which is the usual place of residence or passage and wintering of up to 90 species of birds, including nesting and migratory birds.
The guided tours last two hours (from 10am to 12 noon) and will take place from December 26 to January 7 (except on January 1 and 6). Those interested in visiting this space through this initiative of Fundación Cepsa and Santa Cruz Sostenible Foundations, can register on the website www.santacruzsostenible.com and call 659 084 683 to resolve their queries.
The Palmetum is a space of 122,000 square meters partially reclaimed from the sea, with 1,400 plant species, of which some 70 are in danger of extinction, as well as one of the most complete collections of palm trees in the world.