This trimester Madeira Birdwatching Experience guides you through Madeira’s irrigation system, the famous Madeira Levadas which cross mountains carrying water from the North to the South of the island.

The first settlers in Madeira Island soon realized that it only rained regularly on the south coast in winter but on higher altitudes and on the north there was plenty of water during all year. So they had to find out a way of transporting the water. Therefore the Levadas occurred during the intense colonization of Madeira.

Photo by Tânia Pestana

For the last six hundred years Madeira people have built an extensive network of narrow water channels that carry water all the way down to the south coast where once the plantations of sugarcane, vines and bananas were thirsty.

All Levadas together have a 2150 km (about 1,350 miles) length, where 2% of these go through tunnels in the mountains. Levadas are a wonderful way to get to know the interior of Madeira Island, as almost all of them have a path which follows just beside it, where you will certainly find some Grey Wagtails (Motacilla cinerea shmitzi) to accompany you on your walk.

Come and experience it for yourself!

Photo by Catarina Fagundes

Source: Madeira Birdwatching Experience - 2nd Newsletter