The Fanal Forest on Madeira Island, Portugal
© Val Thoermer/Alam
These laurels are hardy
Go back 15 million years and you'll find most of Southern Europe looking like this fantasy forest: thick, scrubby underbrush canopied by wizened laurel trees. An epoch or two of human agricultural advances cleared those ancient woods, but patches persist on a few temperate Atlantic islands—Especially here on Madeira, a Portuguese-held island off northwest Africa.
The Fanal Forest, at almost 155 square kilometres, is the largest surviving laurel forest in the world. Ninety percent of the forest's growth remains uncut, and some of these long-in-the-root laurels have stood for 500 years.
Related Images
County Bridge in New Hampshire
Letchworth State Park, New York
Meditation domes at the Beatles Ashram in Rishikesh, India
A mountain gorilla eating in a tree in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
Blooming jacaranda trees in New Farm Park, Brisbane, Australia
Highbush blueberry plants in Acadia National Park, Maine
Aerial view of Elk Falls suspension bridge on Vancouver Island
Lake Dobson in Mount Field National Park of Tasmania
Bing Today Images
Apples ready for harvest, Minnesota, United States
Oct 19, 2025
Sunset on Hạ Long Bay, Vietnam
Oct 19, 2016
