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El Hierro Travel Guide
The world's "Ground Zero" is El Hierro, nicknamed Isla del Meridiano, "the Meridian Island" or "the end of the world" as it is marked by zero meridian on the map of the world. With a surface area of only 278 square meters, El Hierro is the smallest of the Canary Islands, but not the tiniest one when it comes to sights and offerings.
The farthest island in the south and west of the Canaries, El Hierro was mentioned in Umberto Eco's novel, "The Island of the Day Before," as well as Capraria in the chronicles of the ancient Roman philosopher, Pliny the Elder. In the 2nd century, Roman astronomer Ptolemy started to refer to the island as zero median. Many Galicians and Frenchmen settled in the island, including French officials that engaged in trading the island's native bimbache slaves.
Now a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, El Hierro offers car safaris to its remote wilderness and flourishing flora and fauna. Like the rest of the Canaries, the island is mountainous, with a highest point right at the island's heart, Mount Malpaso, at 1501 meters high. These mountains are home to rainforests and unique species such as the El Hierro Giant Lizard, which looks like a root of a giant tree.
Although camping, picking fruits and catching fish are prohibited in this state-protected island, around 200 square kilometers of the atoll can be used for biking, hiking, horseback riding, paragliding, and peaceful walks.
If for a long time the Europeans considered El Hierro's western end as the end of the world, today, the island's southern end is called La Restinga, a village that offers modern guesthouse accommodations as well as dive centers with trained instructors and modern equipment. The local instructors are considered experts in bringing divers into some of El Hierro's best underwater spots like balloon-fish lairs and lava arches. Among the plethora of marine life to be seen are turtles, dolphins, sharks, and whales.
The future seems to smile at make El Hierro. According to the island's tourism ministry, two water reservoirs and a couple of wind farms are already on their way to make El Hierro the world's first island to become energy self-sufficient.
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