SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Oct 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife presented this Wednesday the program of ‘Tegueste Biofest: nature and rurality without limits’, the first festival that revolves around the cultural, natural and ethnographic value of the Anaga Biosphere Reserve. The program, which brings together more than 30 activities, will take place between October 29 and November 2, taking the municipality of Tegueste as its headquarters and gateway to the massif.
The island councilor for Natural Environment Management, Isabel García, indicated that the Cabildo has been working “intensely” for the Bisofera Reserve for several years, but “there are still many things to do”: “We must move towards an increasingly inclusive vision of this great protected space, in which it is more than the sum of the local corporations that make it up.Transcend this local concept and turn Anaga into that treasure of all the people of this island, that is known, that can be enjoyed safely, and at the same time that it is the right home for its inhabitants, humans and animals and plants. “
The insular director of Tourism, Laura Castro, pointed out that from Turismo de Tenerife they have been working on a new strategy that is based on two pillars: digitization and sustainability. “Tegueste Biofest will allow us to show with a multidisciplinary offer, with hiking, ecotourism, agrotourism, gastronomic or cultural tourism to those who choose the Anaga Biosphere Reserve, as a destination,” he said.
For his part, the Councilor for the Environment, Ecological Transition and Local Development of Tegueste, Manuel Martín, stressed that this event fits in with the objectives set out in tourism policy, which they understand as “an engine of socioeconomic development and that it proposes to position Tegueste in a sustainable tourist destination, a resource with important potential that Tegueste has, with proximity to the Biosphere Reserve, but also cultural, gastronomic and landscape values ”.
This new proposal, organized by the company Ecotouristing, is born within a framework of public-private governance that materializes with the involvement of different institutions. On the one hand, the Tegueste City Council, venue of the event, the support of Promotur Turismo de Canarias and the Cabildo de Tenerife, with the Natural Environment Area and the Anaga Biosphere Reserve, as well as Turismo de Tenerife.
MORE THAN 300 PARTICIPANTS.
The established calendar can already be consulted on the page www.biofest-anaga.com, and is characterized by combining outdoor activities with other parallel ones linked to values such as gastronomy, the primary sector, aboriginal history, local bird watching or the possibility of enjoying the spectacle of the stars.
“The offer is having a great reception from the public and there are already more than 300 participants, of which 150 will participate in program activities and 50 will enjoy scheduled family activities, such as the nesting box elaboration workshop, the Ornithology and the Guanche culture gamification game “, pointed out the coordinator of the organizing company, Ecoturisting.
As a result of the collaborative work between the different organizations, and based on awareness and respect for the natural environment, the ‘Huge Volunteering’ day will take place on October 30. In this they will take part, together with the members of the NGOs, a group of people sheltered in the Las Canteras juvenile center. The actions planned in this regard are bird watching and trail cleaning in Tejina and Bajamar; waste cleaning and environmental education in La Orilla and waste cleaning in La Peñuelas, Mesa Mota and Fuente del Cuervo.
The rest of the established programming has the undisputed protagonist of the Macizo de Anaga Biosphere Reserve in its maximum splendor, prioritizing new alternatives included under the generic title: ‘Trails of the biosphere, which will run along less traveled paths such as the route that joins Tegueste and Bajamar, the variant of the Mesa de Tejina, as well as different itineraries that connect Tegueste with Punta del Hidalgo, passing through the unique villages of Bejía and El Batán to descend through Chinamada, among others.
In addition, these more demanding options are joined by a more accessible and familiar offer such as the ‘Archaeologist for a day’, scheduled for Saturday October 30 with a route that will run through the Agua de Dios Ravine and that will conclude with a Aboriginal showcooking.
Those interested in registering are still in time to do so by prior reservation of their place via the web. The cost of the same is 14 euros (transfer included), and optionally you can reserve a picnic with local and organic products for the amount of 6 euros. At the same time, paired tastings of products such as honey, cheese or wine will be held at the Tegueste Farmer’s Market, the cost of which is 7 euros and the purpose of which is to make visible the quality of this genre linked to the Reserve.
FIFTY ANNIVERSARY.
This first edition gains greater importance when it coincides with the commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Unesco program ‘Man and the Biosphere (MaB- Man and the Biosphere)’, through which the value of unique natural spaces is promoted, as is the case of the Anaga massif, its conservation and its sustainable development through interaction with man.
That is why the program includes in its calendar a specific act – November 2 at 5.30 p.m. at the Príncipe Felipe Theater (Tegueste) with prior reservation – which will serve as the closing of the festival and as an awareness-raising action for said international program, as well as the declaration awarded to the massif since June 2015.
The dissemination of the values of sustainability, development and respect for the environment are key pillars of the organization of ‘Biofest: nature and rurality without limits’, for this reason all the hiking companies linked to the project are attached to the’ Sustainability Charter en la Naturaleza ‘, a document promoted by the Tourism Department of the Cabildo and which has a dozen companies adhering to the sector, more than half of them hiking, and which implies their voluntary commitment to the conservation of the environment and its associated resources, while offering a meaningful and transformative tourist experience for the client.
Added to this is the use of biodegradable and compostable materials, to the detriment of single-use plastic. In addition, the use of public collective transport will be prioritized and, once the festival is over, the carbon footprint generated and its environmental impact will be calculated.
Likewise, some of the programmed activities will be aimed at the youngest of the municipality of Tegueste, since in collaboration with the schools in the area, awareness-raising, cleaning and caring for the environment and some trails in the Reserve will be carried out.
