The Dunes at Maspalomas

Together with the Charco de Maspalomas a fresh-water lagoon behind the beach and its associated palm grove, the dunes form an area of natural beauty and ecological importance to the south and west of Playa del Ingles and Maspalomas. Their sands, composed of fine ground shells, can reach a height of 10m and are spread over an area of 328 hectares, ending at the mouth of the Fataga gorge.

Far from being composed of moving ridges shaped by wind like the better known parts of the Sahara, these dunes are made up of what seems to be a host of sweetly contoured hillocks and surrounding valleys. It is a mildly surreal but loveable landscape. When plans were launched in the early 1960s, by the Count of Vega Grande, local aristocrat and landowner, to start building tourist complexes on this coast, special pleas were made that the dunes should be protected from development.

The luxury Hotel Maspalomas Oasis and the Maspalomas Golf Course were early lapses from the path of environmental virtue. But there are hopeful signs that this extraordinary natural asset, right in the centre of the greatest tourist concentration on the island, now has enough champions to protect it from further depredation Meanwhile, the dunes are advancing at the rate of a metre a year from left to right in the direction of the lighthouse.

In the charco, over 20 different species of birds have been observed in the past, and there are indications that the lagoon is being used increasingly as a stopping point during migration.