There are a few different ways to experience the beautiful national park of Timanfaya in Lanzarote, the one that we’ll remember for a long time is by camel.
The Echadero de los Camellos in Parque Nacional de Timanfaya is easy to find by car, it’s on the main road from Yaiza LZ-67 as you approach the visitor attraction. Simply turn into the large car park when you arrive where you can see the camels lined up and waiting patiently for their next passengers.
There’s no need to book, you can simply turn up at any time between 09:30 and 15:30 for a camel ride. It costs €20 per camel, so great value at only €10 each for the camel tour.
It’s not obvious if you need to visit the gift shop by the toilets in the car park to buy tickets in advance of your camel ride. You don’t, it’s simply a case of paying one of the men with the camels who will issue you a ticket in receipt.
We arrived in time for the last tour of the day, before we knew it we were allocated our camel and it was time to go! Both passengers sit simultaneously on the seats either side of the camel and the guide fastens your seatbelt. Any difference in weight is adjusted with sacks tied on, so that an adult can ride with a child and the weight is fairly evenly distributed for the camel.
We didn’t feel scared when the camel lurched to it’s knees and stood up, it was fun! We were positioned at the end of a camel train and we were off, walking the length of the car park before climbing the south side of the volcán de Timanfaya. A camel’s gait is weird, to me it felt like a combination of being on horseback, whilst at sea. The walking pace of a camel is very serene, they just amble along their well worn track, occasionally grunting. We didn’t know what to make of these soft moans and groans from the camels, were they complaining about us or just communicating? Either way, we loved the way these delightful belly rumbles were emitted freely during our trek.
The camel ride takes around 20 minutes, you might think that’s not very long but for our first time, it was long enough!
We can highly recommend going for a camel ride in Lanzarote, we laughed so much and have created a memory that will last a life time.
Enjoy a camel ride as part of the Lanzarote Grand Tour.
Read more about the famous fire mountains: Timanfaya.