Canary Islands wine producers have recently warned about a marketing trick used to sell imported wine as local produce by using Canarian label designs and texts.

Bottled in the Canary Islands

A wine that is made from Spanish grapes and imported in bulk can be bottled in the Canary Islands and labelled as "Embotellado en Canarias". With a convincing Canary Islands design on the label, this winer is then sold as if it is local produce in supermarkets and restaurants. The imported wine often uses grape varieties that are also grown in the Canary Islands, such as Malvasia and Albillo, as an added distraction.

Because production costs are so much lower in Spain's vast vineyards, these wines either undercut the local wine producers, or are sold at the same price as authentic Canary Islands wines.

Genuine Canary Islands wine is easy to recognise

This trick depends on people assuming that a bottle that looks like a Canary Islands wine and says bottled in the Canary Islands on the label is a Canary Islands wine. 

Fortunately, all genuine Canary Islands wine does have a Denominación de Origen Protejida (Protected Designation of Origin) label system that is easy to spot and guarantees provenance. It's a similar system to the one used to label genuine Champagne or Greek feta cheese.

Real Canary Islands wine have a DO section on the rear label. Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro each have an island-wine DO, while Tenerife has five; D.O. Tacoronte-Acentejo, D.O. Valle de La Orotava, D.O. Ycoden-Daute-Isora, D.O. Valle de Güimar, and D.O. Abona. Fuerteventura doesnt have a DO as it only has one wine producer (that we know of). 

There is also an Islands Canarias or Canary Wine DO that covers wines made using grapes from more than one island, or from areas of Tenerife that are outside the designated DO zones. 

You can see several of these label sections in the image gallery of this article. 

Genuine Canary Islands wine, made from grapes grown in the Canary Islands, have one of these DO sections on their rear label. The only exceptions are really local wines made for personal consumption and sometimes sold in local bars and Guachinches. 

Protecting Canary Islands wine growers and the countryside

Vineyards and Canary Islands wines have become an important source of income for rural communities and supporting them by drinking local is a great way to keep rural areas vibrant. 

There is also no problem if you choose to drink Spanish wine that is imported and sold in the Canary Islands. Spanish wine is excellent and much cheaper than local wine because the vineyards in Spain are huge and mechanised. All wine in the Canary Islands, on the other hand, comes from small vineyards that hand-pick their grapes. Local wine great stuff but you won't find a bottle of Canary Islands wine for less than 10 euros. Decent Spanish Rioja crianza reds, or Albariño whites, start at around six euros.

The problem here is when cheaper imported wine is sold sneakily as local produce and undercuts the local wineries and the local economy.

The practice is dishonest and destructive and we hope this article helps you to avoid being tricked. If you want to try Canary Islands wine, read our Gran Canaria Info wine section, and check the labels.

Explore the beautiful southern highlands of Gran Canaria in this convertible Volkwagen Beetle tour led by a professional and multilingual local guide. 

The itinerary takes you along Gran Canaria's most spectacular roads up from the coast to the pretty village of Santa Lucia, then on past the palm trees and into the pine forests arund San Bartolome. There are plenty of stop to take in the view and make sure that the Instagram feed is well nourished. Then you head slowly back down via Fataga and through the Valley of 1000 palms with several more interesting and photogenic stops along the way. 

The tour includes pickup in Gran Canaria's main resort areas, plus a picnic lunch. Five people maximum per car. Class B driving license required on the day, driver must be over 21. Start times are flexible and there is more than one tour per day. Ask us for details via WhatsApp using our Concierge service. 

This is a stylish and comfortable day out for the whole family (minimum age 4) with the wind in your hair and the sunshine on your skin and you'll see the highlights of south Gran Canaria's beautiful mountains from the comfort and security of a great cabriolet car.

Rental scams are a growing problem all around the world and especially in places like Gran Canaria where there is always a shortage of properties.

Here’s our guide to the most common scams and how to spot them, plus some tips about how to find a safe rental in Gran Canaria. 

You are most vulnerable to scammers if you are looking for property in Gran Canaria for a medium period of time; longer than a month but less than a year. There are less properties rented out like this and demand is high.

Short stays are safer because you book them on Airbnb or Booking.com and see the landlord’s reviews. Long-term rentals tend to be handled by estate agents, or at least come with a negotiated contract and are therefore less vulnerable to fraud. For residential rentals, and yto an idea of prices and standards,start at Idealista.com.

The fake property scam

This is common in the high end rental market because there is a big lack of property with outside space, especially in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria city.

Scammers create an advert on a popular rental portal, or post pictures in Facebook Groups aimed at remote workers and digital nomads.They then take a reservation deposit, take down the advert and disappear. 

The key to spotting this scam is to pay close attention to the photos of the property. There should be plenty of them and they should all have the same furniture and fixtures. You can often tell that the outdoor photos from fake listings are not taken in Gran Canaria, or that the property is not typical of the island (Balinese villa, ultra-modern high rise, etc). There are no villas or houses with gardens near the beach in Las Palmas.

Never believe landlords who give you excuses about not having any photos because they are redecorating, etc.

You  can also Google search the images to see if they appear in multiple adverts from different places, or appear on property portals (scammers get their photos from estate agent listings). 

Multiple deposit scam

We’ve had several reports of this happening in Las Palmas recently and it is also well known in the resorts.

The owner of a genuine property takes several deposits from people who all believe they have reserved it. Then they arrive to find that the property is already occupied and the owner refuses to return the deposit.

To avoid this scam, always ask for a receipt when leaving a deposit and always pay by bank transfer rather than in cash. If at all possible, avoid leaving a deposit until you have seen a property.

The unpleasant flatmate

There is at least one guy in Las Palmas pulling this trick. He rents out a room, with a deposit and rent in advance, in his apartment. As soon as his guests move in he starts to act erratically so that they move out to get away from him and he keeps their money. 

Avoid this scam by asking for the contact details of previous tenants. 

How to avoid scammers

• Only pay a deposit after you have received a reservation receipt with the contact details and identity number of the landlord
• There is no such thing as a bargain rental property in popular areas of Gran Canaria; you get what you pay for and underpriced properties are cheap for a reason
• Make sure you have the exact address of the property and compare it to the photos using Google Maps
• Ask for the contact details of previous tenants
• Check all photos carefully for coherence and location
• Use landlords who have their properties listed on property portals such as Airbnb and Booking.com and have plenty of reviews
• Come out in advance, stay in an Airbnb and look for property in person once you arrive 
• Join local Facebook Groups and ask members if you have any suspicions about a property or a contact
• Be wary of landlords who try and rush you into making a deposit before you have a chance to do any checks
• Never pay more than one month’s deposit in advance
• Trust your instincts if something seems wrong with an advert or odd about a landlord
• Join local groups such as Digital Nomads Accommodation GC and Gran Canaria Accommodation. For more general Gran Canaria Information join Gran Canaria Info and Living In Gran Canaria. 

Help I got scammed

We advise you to go to the police with all the information you have. Head to the nearest Policia Local station with all documentary evidence you have.

You can also get a lawyer involved although the cost adds up and you may spend as much as you get back. 

However, even the threat of a lawyer or the police is often enough to make a dishonest landlord return your money. 

A Gran Canaria boat trip is a must for many people visiting the island but there are lots of options, and so many people selling tickets for them, that it's tricky to know which one is the right one for you.

After all, one person's banging party boat is another's noisy nightmare on the water. So, yo make sure you have the perfect day, here is the Gran Canaria Info guide to choosing the best Gran Canaria boat trip for you. Allthe boats mentioned here do pickups from all the main Gran Canaria resorts.

What sort of Gran Canaria boat trip are you after?

A good boat trip is a great Gran Canaria day out but the wrong boat can be an expensive headache. So, to make sure you choose the right trip, first decude exactly what you want out of your day on the water?

The most popular day trips are the large charater catamarans like the Sagitarius Cat, the Afrikat, or the Volcanic Party boat. These are big boats with lots of atmosphere and a fun atmosphere. Great if you want to socialise and party out on the water. 

For a more tranquil day out, choose on of the smaller catamarans or speedboats such as the Exclusive Boat or the Blue M Yacht.

If what you realy want to see is dolphins swimming free in the ocean, you have a couple of good options. The two hour dolphin-watching trip on the Supercat has a great track record of finding the dolphins but is a big, busy boat that isn't for everyone. For a quieter and more intimate experience, use a smaller boat like the Exclusive Dolphin Search Charter, or the Blue M Yacht Luxury Dolphin Search Charter. 

Ask a Gran Canaria expert before you book 

At Gran Canaria Info we want everyone to have a good time here on the island. So, we have a personal booking service that lets you ask our local experts which boat trip is best for you. It's all done by Whatsapp so you don't have to spend any money on calls, or worry about data. All you do is fill in a super-simple enquiry form telling us what you want to do and then our local experts will be in touch to help you choose the right boat. Our local experts have tried all the boat trips we sell and know everything about them. 

Booking the perfect boatv trip via Gran Canaria Info really couldn't be any easier and it guarantees that you have the best possible time on board. 

The delicious Barraquito coffee was invented in Santa Cruz de Tenerife at some point in the early 20th Century but like all good legends, its exact origins are nebulous.

Some say a man nicknamed Barraco breakfasted in the bar Imperial and always asked for a carajillo (espresso with booze in it) with a difference. Followers of this origin story spell the name with a capital B. Others are convinced that a waiter at the nearby Los Paragüitas bar invented the Barraquito on a slow day. The recipe is also attributed to a Mr Manolo Grijalbo who created it for his bohemian clients at a long forgotten bar over the road from the Santa Cruz casino.

Meanwhile, some in north Tenerife add extra Licor 43, call the barraquito a zaperoco, and insist that it originated in Puerto de La Cruz and has been hijacked by the capital city. The response from Santa Cruz is always, "pfff, they just say that for the tourists". 

The one thing that everyone in Tenerife agrees on is that the Barraquito is completely different from the cafe Asiático from Cartagena in southern Spain. The Asiático is made from exactly the same ingredients in exactly the same way but is, of course, a completely different drink. The fact that Licor 43 is made in Cartagena is neither here nor there: There is no firm evidence about which of the two appeared first as both seem to date to the 1930s or 1940s. 

Anyway, enough of this historical nonsense. 

How to make a Barraquito coffee

The Barraquito is made from five ingredients layered up like a 1980s cocktail. 

It is served in a glass, like a standard Canary Islands cortado or cortado largo. These days it also comes in a wide array of rather silly vessels ranging from mini beer steins to champagne flutes. 

Be as camp as you like with the glass, but stick to the original recipe to get the right flavour at the end: 

The bottom layer is a shot of condensed milk.

The second a half shot layer of Licor 43, a sweet Spanish liqueur.

The third a shot of piping hot espresso coffee.

The fourth a shot of hot milk.

Top up with milk foam to create the fifth layer.

Dust the top with cinnamon and add a strip of zest from an unwaxed lemon.

The idea is that you mix all the layers together and drink your Barraquito like a normal coffee. 

Instagram rather than instant coffee

In our seminal guide about How to order coffee like a local in Gran Canaria we don't even mention the Barraquito because, somewhat inexplicably, it wasn't a thing here until recently. Lovers of sweet, layered coffee in Gran Canaria had to make do with the leche y leche, a measly two-layered effort made with condensed milk and milky coffee served with extra sugar on the side rather than cinnamon and lemon peel. 

However, the Barraquito is now here to stay on menus at touristy bars and cafes all across the island. Even the locals are indulging along the Las Canteras beachfront in Las Palmas. It is the banana split of the 2020s and makes people ooh and aah and dream of Instagram fame. 

The good thing about the Barraquito is that it is delicious as well as Grammable. The unlikely sounding combination of ingredients combine well and you get a lovely hit of rice-puddingy coffee sweetness.

Just remember to drink it hot as it gets a bit gloopy if you spend too long photographing it. 

When you take your first sip don't forget to thank Barraco, or Mr Grijalbo, or that anonymousTenerife waiter,  for coming up with the original recipe. 

Rather like tapas, paella isn't a traditional dish in the Canary Islands and finding a good one in Gran Canaria has always been difficult.

Proper paella is not pukka

Proper paella hails from the Valencian region and is made from chicken, rabbit and snails. What visitors think of as paella, yellow rice with prawns, mussels and calamares, is actually a completely different dish called arroz a banda.

The Valencians are quite defensive about the origins and authenticity of paella because it is one of the most abused dishes on Earth. 

Proper paella is two grains of rice thick, not bright yellow, and each mouthful is a blast of flavour. The stuff you get in most Gran Canaria resort restaurants, and even local restauarants, is a long way removed from the real thing. In fact if you find paella on a restaurant menu and the waiter doesn't warn you about how long it will take, you know it's coming out of the freezer. 

Proper paella in Gran Canaria

Paella takes a while to cook so most local restaurants only do it on Sundays. Even when they do it tends to be too thick and bright yellow to be authentic. These local paellas can be delicious but are never quite as good as the real deal. 

To try the real deal, find local restaurants called arrocerias which specialise in rice dishes. The most accessible in south Gran Canaria is El Caldero along the Meloneras strip. This serves paella, and arroz a banda, cooked over flames with the right amount of rice and spices (as you can see from the photo, it isn't bright yellow). If you feel adventurous, try the black rice (cooked and coloured with squid ink). 

Alex Says: Paella servings At El Caldero are generous so four people will struggle to eat "paella for four". It's best to order paella for two or three, especially if you order starters. 

One of the first things visitors arriving in Gran Canaria ask us is where they can get the best tapas. The answer isn't easy because there is no such thing as tapas and tapas restaurants as they exist in people's minds. 

The tapa exists of course (although it can also be called a pincho) but there are no tapas restaurants in Spain outside of tourist resorts.

The tapa in Spain

Bars in Mainland Spain serve an individual free tapa with every drink knowing that make people more liklely to stay for another one. But, unlike the Greeks with their meze, the Spanish never sit down at a restaurant for a table full of little plates of tapas.

In the Canary Islands the tapa itself isn't regarded as a local thing. Nor, for that matter is paella which is from Valencia. 

There are Spanish bars and restaurants in many towns and in Las Palmas that do serve tapas as part of their menu. Look out for jamonerias which do tapas and Spanish ham by the plate.

Vegueta Old Town in Las Palmas hosts a weekly tapas night on Thursdays but the focus is more on volume than quality. Most of the tapas served are actually montaditos; something on a bit of bread. A better option is to head to the Mercado del Puerto just by north end of Las Canteras beach. This Eiffel-designed iron building contains a mix of fresh food stalls and tapas stalls and has been voted amongst the best 10 food markets in Spain. 

Pre-Covid, resorts in Gran Canaria were hosting regular tapas evenings and we really hope that these come back soon.

The Canary Islands equivalent to tapas

A few years ago the tourism authorities dug up the word enyesque as a Canary Islands equivalent to tapas. The term didn't really take off. 

These days there are occasional enyesque events where bars and restaurants in a town offer one dish each over a weekend. 

To find the best tapa-equivalents in Gran Canaria you have to look around: Many local Gran Canaria bars serve snacks, often displayed on the bar. Look out for Ensaladilla Rusa, croquetas, tortilla Española, etc.

Or order several dishes from the starter menu at local restaurants for that holiday tapas feeling. 

Gran Canaria drinks a lot of rum but hasn't managed to produce a quality premium spirit until recently. Thankfully, the island distillery has now responded to competition from a smaller rival and made a quality white rum that is eminently sippable and mixable. 

Many rums, one main distillery

The big Arucas distillery, known as the Fabrica de Ron, owns the Arehucas brand and Ron de Telde in Gran Canaria, along with most other brands of Canary Islands rum both white and brown. Most are cheap and cheerful, made to be mixed with cola and plenty of ice (the lemon slice is optional). The brown colour of basic rums comes mainly from caramel rather than years in a barrel. Most of the raw meterials come from South Africa.

The big exception to the mass market is the Ron La Aldea brand which used to be based in La Aldea in west Gran Canaria. It moved to La Palma many years ago whern Gran Canaria stopped growing enough sugar cane to support it.

It has remained independent and still produces La Aldea Blanca, w white rum we regard as the best basic white rum in the Canary Islands. It also makes La Aldea Pura Caña, a premium white rum made with the alcohol from fermented cane juice rather than molasses or sugar. This is in the style of French Caribbean Rhum Agricole and Brazilian Cachaça rather than Spanish Caribean Ron or British Caribbean Rum. Cane juice rum has a harbal or grassy taste and a richer flavour profile. 

La Aldea Pura Caña was the go-to rum for Canary Islands bartenders making decent rum cocktails with local white rum. Until now...

Ron Zafiro by Arehucas

Zafiro is a premium white rum made from fermented and distilled sugar cane juice from cane grown in Gran Canaria close to the Arucas distillery.

It is smooth, slightly sweet and herbal; tasty enough to be sipped on its own. It also makes for excellent Cuba Libres (cubatas) anad rum cocktails. You need less of it in a drink to taste the rum which helps you stay standing for longer at carnival. 

Zafiro is the white rum that complements Arehucas' premium Family Selection of 12 and 18-year old golden rums. Gran Canaria Info will, in the name of research, be testing these as soon as possible and comparing them to the equivalent rums from La Aldea.

Ron Zafiro retails for 18 euros a bottle and is well worth the extra few euros on top of the price of a standard bottle of white Arehucas. 

The Casa Romantica restaurant was an institution in the Agaete Valley for years before closing down in the 1990s. It's now reopened after an extensive refurbishment and with a brand new menu.

The food is a cut above the standard 'papas con mojo and ropa vieja' you get in most Gran Canaria country restaurants. It's right on the line between cookery and cuisine; accessible yet elevated. All dishes made with local produce, much of it from the Agaete Valley and Puerto de las Nieves harbour. 

See the menu here.

We visited on a Wednesday afternoon and chose to sit out on the front terrace because it was warm and sunny. However, the spacious indoor dining rooms, decoared with local art and plenty of plants, would have been just as pleasant. Next door is a museum dedicated to Gran Canaria rural life and its local produce.

The food at Casa Romántica

The welcome glass of Los Berrezales rosé from the bodega just up the road was a lovely welcoming touch. The green almogrote (a pesto of mature goat cheese, coriander and garlic) canapes delicious. 

We ordered a light lunch of rabbit gyozas in gravy, onion soup made from local Galdar onions, and baked vegetables with slow-cooked bonito flakes. For dessert an orange and chocolate montage with lemon grass and basil. 

Rabbit is a classic Gran Canaria country meat much appreciated by the locals (everybody loves free food). It's not the tastiest meat and is very lean. The rich gravy did the trick in this dish with each ravioli a little parcel of umaminess. 

The onion soup, with a cured cheese parcel lurking at the bottom, was rich and tasty, and beautifully presented.

The baked vegetables, cooked slow and topped with big flakes of just-cooked bonito, were superb. The veggies (local tomato, aubergine and leek) jammy and full of flavour, their richness offset by the intense fishiness of the bonito. 

The chocolate dessert, a deconstructed mousse with little blobs of citrus and basil jelly, worked well. 

Based on what we ate, we'll be going back ASAP to work our way through the rest of the menu, and to try the tasting menu and paired local wines (40 euros per head with wine). 

All in all, the Casa Romantica is a welcome return for the Agaete Valley and a recommended stop on a tour around the island. The surrounding are beautiful and the food is quality and made from the best local ingredients.

Alex Says: One of my earliest memories is at the Casa Romántica back in the 1980s. I was there with my mother to photograph their vervet monkeys, at the time probably the only monkeys in Gran Canaria. She got too close to the bars of the cage and one of the monkeys ripped out a big handful of her hair. The monkeys have gone and my mum's hair grew back in the end!

 How to get to the Casa Romántica

Located three kilometres up the Valley from Agaete town, you can't really miss the Casa Romántica. It's on the left as you drive up, tucked into it's own little side valley. If you don't drive, a taxi from Agaete town costs a few euros (taxis next to the church).

See the Google Map location.

There is plenty of parking at Casa Romántica. Book if you plan to visit at lunchtime at the weekend. 

The growing trend towards environmentally friendly and Carbon neutral travel is a good thing for the planet but a problem for Gran Canaria and the Canary Islands. 

Without tourism, it is hard to see how the Canary Islands will survive because the local economy is 40% dependent on the industry.

So, given that travel guilt and the move to low-carbon living is an existential threat, what are Gran Canaria and the Canary Islands doing to reduce or eliminate the carbon footprint of travel and holidays? And what more can they do in the future? 

The big Gran Canaria water battery

 East Gran Canaria is a windy place and its windmills often generate more power than the island can use. When this happens they have to be switched off, thus wasting a huge amount of potential green energy. 

The solution is to use two of the island's big mountain reservoirs as a giant battery to store excess wind energy. 

The way it works is very simple: Excess power generated from windmills pumps recycled water up to the Presa de Chira reservoir. When extra energy is needed this water runs down through a rock tunnel and drives turbines to make electricity. The water is stored in the lower Presa de Soria. From here it can either be used to water farmland, or pumped back up the hill when there is an excess of wind energy.

It's a clever and green way to reduce the island's dependence on burning oil to make electricity.

However, the project is not popular with  some of the islands ecologists who say it will damage pristine areas of the island (there will be some pylons) disturb the locals (the tunnel and turbines need some blasting work) and will be a for-profit operation (a Spanish power company has the concession). 

Another complaint is that alternatives to the water battery could be better. However, these rely on experimental new tech such as hydrogen generation that just isn't ready to go. 

In balance we at Gran Canaria Info believe that the Chirea Soria water battery is a good idea. 

It means that at least half the island's electricity will be wind-generated (and that's with the island's current turbines). With offshore wind and solar power added, it could allow the island to go completely green. 

Green energy research in Gran Canaria

As you drive north from the airport to Las Palmas you see a huge grey square floating in the sea. This is the PLOCAN marine research station dedicated to investigating new ways to generate wind and wave power in the ocean. The Canary Islands also have experimental offshore wind farms,solar energy plants and a whole range of other green energy projects. With the ocean, wind and sunshine of the Canary Islands, it is a matter of time before we become energy independent and no longer need to generate carbon to keep the lights on. 

A green levy or eco tax on tourists

Tourism is an energy and resource-intensive business. Visitors want to reduce their carbon footprint but they also want fresh towels, green golf courses and air-conditioning. To compensate for the extra burden on the island's resources, politicians have suggested a small levy or tourist tax paid by every visitor. The funds would be invested, in things like reforestation, offshore reefs, low carbon transport and rewilding of abandoned farmland, to reduce the island's carbon footprint and counter the effects of tourism on the environment.

The benefit of this idea is that it would generate a large sum of money right away. The downsides are that it would be hard to collect, and some people would choose to go to other destinations that don't have a green levy. Another issue is how to decide who spends the money and on which projects. Politicians love coming up with ways to get more money but aren't always very good at spending it effectively. 

Indirect taxes on visitor spend

Instead of taxing every visitor, some think it would be better to add a green tax to certain things that damage the local environment or are cheap in the Canary Islands ton start with. For example, a surcharge on the price of petrol, or on luxury goods like perfume, premium alcohol and / or tobacco. 

Or, what if every hotel and large tourism business in the Canary Islands chose a carbon offset project and agreed to use a percentage of their profits to funding it. They could then show their guests and customers exactly what they were doing to reduce the environmental income of their holidays. For example sponsoring a specific rewilding or reforestation project, or contributing to an artificial offshore reef to increase marine biomass. Visitors would be able to watch a live fed of life on the reef that their hotel sponsors. Maybe on those silly giant iPads that every hotel reception has but nobody uses. 

Carbon Offset Schemes like reforestation and rewilding

However it is paid for, rewilding and reforestation are going to be a major way that Gran Canaria offsets the carbon generated by visitors. The island now has 20,000 hectares of forest but once had over 150,000 hectares of pine, laurel, tree heath, wax myrtle and olive forests. Some of this is now occupied by towns, roads and farmland but there is a lot of space for replanting the forests.

Other rewilding projects could include returning the abandoned farmland of the east and south coast to their natural state with native palm trees and vegetation.

See our detailed guide to the reforesting of Gran Canaria.

Another important idea is to return Gran Canaria's natural water to the island's valleys. Gran Canaria is not a dry island but most of its water is currently piped from source to banana and tomato farms. It would be far more valuable flowing free to created natural firebreaks and new areas of natural beauty such as streams and waterfalls. 

Low carbon transport and travel

 For visitors to Gran Canaria, using public transport, taking care with water and electricity use and eating only sustainable meat (such as grass-fed Spanish or Uruguayan beef) are small but significant ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Here's a good list of ways to reduce the impact of your next holiday.

Consuming local produce such as wine, cheese, fruits and vegetables also contributes to reducing emissions on imports and supporting rural life in Gran Canaria. 

If you want to do more, then there is a local charity that does a superb job...

Foresta: The Gran Canaria reforestation charity

The Foresta Foundation is dedicated to replanting all of Gran Canaria's primeval forests in a sustainable and fire-safe way. It plants mixed forests of native species making sure that the right trees go in the right places. This makes the forests grow faster and also makes them more resistant to forest fires and droughts. 

To offset the carbon footprint of your flight to and from Gran Canaria you can sponsor a tree via Foresta. It plants one native tree sapling per donation in an appropriate location and cares for it (rabbit-proof fencing, watering, etc) until  it gets established. A mature tree can absorb 1000 kg of carbon dioxide during its lifetime, more than enough to offset the 650kg of carbon that each return flight to Gran Canaria generates per person.