Do you like cacti? There are some in Saguaro National Park ...

Our journey took us from Phoenix to Tucson today. More precisely to the Saguaro National Park west of it, located within the Sonoran Desert. This park is famous for its large cacti area. Here, cacti stand like trees in a forest. And they are almost as tall. They reach up to 16 meters from the valley or stand on and by the mountains. It surprises us that these cacti even grow on the slopes of the mountains.

We have found out that these cacti grow very, very, very slowly. A few mm per year, especially at the beginning! When they are fully grown, they weigh several tons due to water storage. At this growth rate per year, one can calculate or just imagine how old these cacti must be when they reach 16 meters. Probably several hundred years.

The Saguaro National Park covers a total area of ​​370 square kilometers and is divided into two areas. One part is located west of the city of Tucson, the other part is located east. We were first in the western part, because we had read that this is the more beautiful, more impressive part. And so it was.

The cacti form the craziest shapes, intertwine with each other, and develop "thousand arms" in which they hold flower heads, or at least that's what it looks like sometimes. We chose the right time (well, it was more accidental ...), because the cactus bloom always takes place between May and June. And each flower "lives" for only one day. Then it falls off and the next flowers open.

We were very enthusiastic about the cactus area and the view extended over cactus fields to the high mountains. Walking through the cactus landscape was very beautiful, but not really pleasant at 38 degrees and the mosquitoes somehow irritated us too ...

To visit the eastern part, we had to drive around Tucson. Once there, we understood why the eastern part is not considered so attractive. Here there is a little more green, but the species diversity and the density of cacti are not as high. After we had "lazily" driven through the part, we went to the hotel.

And our stay in Saguaro Park brought us one realization: Now we know what color our Kia is. Not just green, but cactus green. Did the car rental company already suspect that we wanted to go to Saguaro ...??? We will never know!