Trekking the Volcán de Tajogaite in La Palma

During our recent visit to the Canarian island of La Palma, we visited the Volcán de Tajogaite.

Tajogaite is the most recent volcano to have erupted on the volcanic island. It famously erupted on September 19th 2021, and didn’t cease until 85 days later. As the lava flowed towards the sea, around 1,600 buildings were destroyed or damaged, including over 1,300 homes. More than 7000 people were evacuated.

To visit Tajogaite, we took an organised tour with La Palma Natural as it’s not possible to enter the area alone.

Our guide, who had lived in the area and had suffered her family home destroyed, told us how she and her family had less than an hour to decide which possessions they felt they wanted to take with them.

The weather had a real chill in the air with breezy mist that added to the atmosphere. It’s a truly surreal experience, trekking 3.5 miles upon the ash planes, which are tens of meters deep in places, a terrain that just over four years ago would have looked very, very different.

It was amazing to see how the Canary pine trees have survived and recovered from this massive catastrophe.

I love travel and travel photography, and the Tajogaite Volcano did not disappoint. Here are some of the photographs I captured during our trek.