Bandama Caldera

The nature park Bandama (Spanish: Monumento Natural de Bandama ) is a protected landscape area in the northeast of the island of Gran Canaria, in the Spanish province of Las Palmas. It consists of two clearly defined units: the summit of Pico de Bandama (, Summit Bandama ') and the Caldera de Bandama ( Caldera Bandama ').

• 2.1 Origin of the name
• 2.2 Archaeological finds

Geography

Location and extent

The reserve is located about ten kilometers south of the city of Las Palmas and has a total area of ​​325.7 hectares. Of this, 264.8 acres on the municipality of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 51.4 acres on Santa Brigida and 9.5 acres on Telde. The nature park mainly consists of the 574 -meter summit of Pico de Bandama and the south of it caldera. This has a diameter of about one kilometer and is 170 meters deep.

Traffic

The summit is accessible by paved and winding road. Another asphalt road leads to the edge of the caldera. A paved only in the first meters footpath is the only access to the bottom of the boiler.

Geology

The volcanic processes that have led to the emergence of Bandama complex, have been dated to the younger Holocene by geologists and can thus be regarded as evidence of recent volcanism in the Canaries. The caldera was created in its present form by minor pyroclastic eruptions and the resulting collapse of the cinder cone about 5000 years ago.

History

Origin of the name

The name Bandama is not of Spanish origin. It is derived from the Flemish merchant Daniel Van Damme, who ran a very successful winery in the 16th century in the caldera. The will of this man is the first written documentation of winemaking in this zone of the island. The still partially preserved today wine presses and the associated fermentation tank ( lagares ), in which the grapes were crushed, are among the oldest of its kind in Gran Canaria.

Archaeological finds

In the north wall of the caldera, there is a cave village from pre-Hispanic times. (Also known as Cuevas de los Canarios ) The so-called Cuevas de Bandama essentially consist of a storage silo with connected caves. These were of the aboriginal inhabitants, the Guanches, equipped with stairs, chambers, windows, corridors and so developed into a cave settlement. This archaeological site is remarkable insofar as caves with artificial interior design, occur nowhere else in the Canary Islands except in Gran Canaria. Noteworthy are also the previously unentschlüsselten petroglyphs on a cave entrance, which can, together with similar findings in Gran Canaria and other islands, the existence of a altkanarischen font with Libyan- Berber embossing suspect. The Cuevas de Bandama can only be achieved with appropriate local knowledge. They are not marked, nor is there a feasible way to get there at first glance.

Tourist use

The most popular place for day trippers in the nature park is the viewing platform at Pico de Bandama, with views into the crater, on the Canarian mountains and on the outskirts of Las Palmas and Telde. Another platform inside the caldera, with a multilingual information panel on the geological history of the volcanic complex, which has enjoyed great popularity. The trail into the cauldron of the caldera is rarely used by tourists as the climb is very strenuous due to the steep terrain and loose soil.