www.Madeira.IslandOfMyDreams.com

- Municipalities

Just like the districts of mainland Portugal, Madeira is also further subdivided into 11 municipalities:

:: Calheta :: Câmara de Lobos :: Funchal
:: Machico :: Ponta do Sol :: Porto Moniz
:: Porto Santo :: Ribeira Brava
:: Santa Cruz :: Santana :: São Vicente

Levada Walk

Photo:Dietrich Bartel
Date: 23.03.2005

Discovery

João Gonçalves Zarco, a 15th century Portuguese sailor who - in the service of the King of Portugal - fought the Moors along the African coast .

In one of those battles, his ship went astray, arriving by chance in a group of islands located about 400 miles west of Morocco. The largest of the islands was covered by a luxuriant vegetation of laurisilva, so Zarco named it 'Ilha da Madeira' - (Wood Island).
On the southern shore of the island, he and his crew found large numbers of sea lions (in ancient Portuguese "sea wolves") hidden in a cave and they called that place "Câmara de Lobos" (Cave of Wolves).

The town of Câmara de Lobos - some 9km west of Funchal - is now the home of Madeira's fishing industry.

- Madeira's Levada's

A levada (Portuguese for "led") is an irrigation channel or aqueduct on the island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean.

The levadas originated out of the necessity of bringing large amounts of water from the west and northwest of the island to the drier south east which is more conducive to habitation and agriculture (such as the sugar cane production). In the 16th century the Portuguese started building levadas to carry water to the agricultural regions. The most recent was made in the 1940s. Madeira is very mountainous, and building the levadas was often difficult. Many are cut into the sides of mountains, and it was also necessary to dig 25 miles of tunnels.

Today the levadas not only supply water to the southern parts of the island but provide hydro-electric power. There are over 1350 miles of levadas and they provide a remarkable network of walking paths. Some provide easy and relaxing walks through beautiful countryside, but others are narrow, crumbling ledges where a slip could result in serious injury or death.

A popular levada to hike is the Levada do Caldeirao Verde which continues as the Levada Caldeirao do Inferno. Together it is about 23 miles long. Along both parts there are long sections which should not be attempted by hikers prone to vertigo; and several tunnels for which flashlights and helmets are essential. The Levada do Canical is a much easier walk. This levada runs 7.1 miles from Maroços to the Canical Tunnel. It is known as the mimosa levada because acacias (often misnamed as mimosas) are found all along the route.

Forestation

Laurel-leaved forests, called laurisilva, once covered most of the Azores, Madeira, and parts of the Canaries between 400-1200 m altitude (the eastern Canaries and Cape Verde being too dry). These forests resemble the ancient forests that covered the Mediterranean basin and northwestern Africa before cooling and drying of the ice ages. Trees of the genera Apollonias (Lauraceae), Clethra (Clethraceae), Dracaena (Ruscaceae), Ocotea (Lauraceae), Persea (Lauraceae), and Picconia (Oleaceae), which are found in the Macaronesian laurel forests, are also known from fossils to have lived around the Mediterranean before the ice ages.

Felling of the forests for timber and firewood, clearing vegetation for grazing and agriculture, and the introduction of exotic plants and animals by humans has displaced much of the native vegetation. The laurisilva has been reduced to small pockets. As a result, many of the endemic biota of the islands are seriously endangered or extinct.