Trudging through thick mud in the pouring rain, I made my way along a narrow path, weaving through twisted laurel trees. A rickety fence was the only thing keeping me from falling into the fog-filled Caldeirão Verde., a steep, incredibly green, tree-dotted valley hundreds of meters below. As I rounded the next bend, the thick fog cleared and a thundering waterfall appeared out of nowhere, falling from a cliff above into a shallow pool while hikers on a bridge gaped. .
Located 560 km off the northwest coast of Africa, the Portuguese island of Madeira is full of spectacular hikes like the Levada do Caldeirão Verde., or PR9, which wind like veins through the picturesque landscape of the island. What’s unique about these trails is that they follow the island’s slow-moving trails. levadas (artificial irrigation tunnels), providing awe-inspiring moments at every turn. These innovative water channels seep from the mountainous highlands into villages, towns and cities, providing not only convenient navigation routes for hikers, but also water for cultivation, power and beverage. Even more impressive, they travel through some of Madeira’s wildest forests, skirting soaring mountains that drop sheer into the North Atlantic Ocean.
Madeira’s vast levada network stretches an impressive 3,100km across an island that is just 55km long and 22km wide. The first levadas, dating back almost 600 years, are believed to have been designed by Portuguese settlers to provide drinking water and for agriculture (the word “levada” comes from the Portuguese verb “to transport”). These water tunnels, however, also allowed them to develop a lucrative sugarcane industry: the first sugarcane factory was built in 1425, just six years after the previously uninhabited island was officially discovered.
However, the levada system proved to be more than a clever and functional engineering feat for colonizing an isolated island. It has shaped the natural beauty, agronomy and culture of Madeira and is so closely linked to its past, present and future that a UNESCO World Heritage label is pending.