Dozens of tourists have taken advantage of the vehicle queues that form in the Timanfaya National Park to get out of the car and walk through the lava flows of this protected area outside the authorized trails and without any type of supervision. This has been denounced by the Professional Association of Tourist Guides of Lanzarote through its Instagram account in a video recorded this past Tuesday, January 9.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition of the Government of Spain states on its page about the Network of National Parks that accessing and walking outside the authorized roads and paths is totally prohibited. It is also forbidden to take any plant, animal or rock of any size or from any place in the park as a souvenir.
"I don't know how many people are walking on the lava, looking for stones and throwing them. It's to be reported," says the man who recorded the video in which you can see how visitors leave their cars badly parked, waiting to access the Mountains of Fire and begin to walk through this place.
"We live surrounded by people who are not only disrespectful, but completely blind to the beauty and fragility of this island, and who also have not yet understood that everyone's economy and their own depends on its preservation," this same account criticizes in a publication on social networks.
Despite the increase in rates at the Centers, where entry to the Mountains of Fire amounts to 20 euros per person for visitors from outside the Canary Islands, images of vehicles accumulated on the roads of the Park continue to be repeated.
The Professional Association of Tourist Guides of Lanzarote emphasizes the importance of disseminating information so that the population and tourists know the value of these spaces. "We are delighted to be part of this dissemination so that they avoid aggressions like this. And sanctions, obviously, serious ones," he added.
Thus, he adds that "despite having more [tourist] beds, more cars and more tourists than 20 years ago, we are at the bottom in income and academic training of the Spanish and European autonomous communities."
