|
The locals are friendly and certainly don’t mind having a camera stuck in their face - as long as we remember this is their land. Corinne Hitching finds the wildlife on the Galápagos very accommodating.Unspoilt is a word often used in travel with so many of us intent on finding that one location still untainted by man. Happily there is a place on the planet where nothing is quite as we’ve come to expect, and where unspoilt really means `as nature intended’.
Where? The Galápagos of course – that wondrous place where Darwin was inspired to write his theory on natural selection after seeing how each species had evolved differently depending on its environment. Most of the islands are still as they would have been when Darwin stepped ashore 166 years ago. Even on those few islands that have been colonised, the area permitted for habitation is severely limited, ensuring all but five per cent of the landmass is left to the wildlife.
We all know the Galápagos are special, but nothing quite prepares you for the full-blown ‘Wow’ value of swimming with sealions, sharing a path with a nesting masked booby or playing gooseberry to a pair of courting frigate birds, with the male showing off his red pouch and dapper feathers while the female looks on with apparent indifference.
Wildlife photography here takes on a new dimension. Leave your big lenses at home. Here you can get up close and personal with every living creature, including mockingbirds, flycatchers, hawks and owls. Viewing wildlife doesn’t get any better or easier than this – in fact you get the impression our visits are organised for their enjoyment. Mockingbirds and hawks like to land on tourists’ heads, while the boobies and sealions waddle closer to get a better look at humans.
It’s not just the wildlife that is amazing - volcanic features are evident at every turn. Lava tubes, tuff cones, craters and solidified lava flows, some seemingly ‘frozen’ in mid-movement, make each island unique. Many of the beaches have beautiful white sand, others sport the black sand common on volcanic islands. Some even take on red and green hues from the presence of iron and olivine.
I spent a week sailing around the islands on a motorised yacht with 12 other passengers and a crew that included Franklin our Ecuadorian guide, who managed to mix education with humour in equal measures.
Frigate birds and dolphins escorted us on our journey round the archipelago, while pelicans and sealions welcomed us when we laid anchor.
The welcome party of sealions needed a little gentle persuasion to move out of the way so we could go ashore. On Española we had to pick our way through a marauding pack of marine iguanas before finding ourselves in the middle of a landing strip for waved albatross.
These giants of birds with eight-foot wingspan are so much more suited to the sky than land that they seem to have severe trouble landing.
Those not approaching unsteadily to land sat motionless on their nests – giving us only a passing glance - or waddled towards the cliff edge to launch themselves into the abyss to resume their natural gracefulness.
The waved albatross performs one of the most spectacular courting rituals in the bird world with an assortment of displays that encompasses clacking bills, whistles and a romantic sort of fencing match with its intended mate, which starts with open bills and finishes with a dance of neck swerves.
The blue-footed booby is another treat of the Galápagos, not just because they are rare but because they are highly entertaining. With their exquisite turquoise blue feet these birds dance the amazing ‘booby two-step’ as part of their courtship display, lifting their feet high before face-to-face skypointing with wings outstretched, accompanied by a whistle from the male and a honk from the female.
North Seymour is one of the favoured nesting areas of the blue-footed booby and it was hard knowing where to look as courting birds whistled, danced and pointed to their hearts content. We even came across a couple of males vying for one female’s attention, each male taking it in turns to high step, whistle and point at the female who stood on a rock and looked slightly bemused by the whole affair. Unfortunately we had to move on before we could find out which of the two was to win her heart.
Visiting the bachelor sealion pad on South Plaza was yet another high of the trip. Here you can watch great bulls lumber up an almost sheer rock face while they keep up a continuous honking – presumably telling the rest of the boys that he’s home and to get the beers out.
Some of them displayed vicious looking cuts where they had fought for, and lost, their harem to a bigger and tougher bull. But for all the noise and bluster, these animals didn’t give us a second look, other than stopping just long enough to pose for a photograph.
The marine life around the islands is superb and the thrill of swimming with sealions makes you feel like an extra in a David Attenborough wildlife film. These agile creatures seemed to relish human presence in the water, swimming around and peering into our masks as if wondering what on earth these weird animals were, that flapped around in such an ungainly manner.
Stingrays swarmed in the shallows like a cloud, and the fish were a rainbow of colour in all shapes and sizes from shoals of the beautiful and oddly named Moorish idol to the amazing pufferfish which allows itself to be picked up for closer inspection.
I can also boast of having swum in shark infested waters as at one point I was swimming above at least seven reef sharks as they patrolled the rocky outlets! Despite my earlier unease at such a possibility, I ended up actually wishing to see more sharks and was disappointed that I didn’t get to see a hammerhead.
The water is full of plankton, which crackle against you as you swim, and as the water is so unpolluted, bioluminescent plankton cause any living creature to shine brightly at night. We were treated to the rare and wonderful sight of a dozen or more bottle-nosed dolphins surfing on our bow wave one evening, each one exquisitely illuminated with a ghostly green glow. Other nights we stood on deck and watched sealions dart through the water catching fish, each one lit up as if by internal bulbs.
The giant tortoises are another of those must-sees of the Galápagos and nowhere is this better than in the highlands of Santa Cruz. Our hunt for these prehistoric looking beasts took place in the pouring rain, following behind our guide who rampaged through the rain forest with a machete, chopping away at overhanging branches as if in a hurry to catch up with these slowest creatures on earth!
The Galápagos is a rare treat for wildlife lovers, and for anyone who ever dreamt of seeing an island in its pristine state. You depart with a sense of wonder that leaves you close to tears, and a yearning to return. This is like no other place you have ever been, or will ever go to.
As long as we leave the wildlife in charge, the Galápagos will remain unspoilt.
FACT FILE
The Galápagos Islands are a province of Ecuador and lie in the Pacific ocean 970 km to the west of the mainland. Every visitor is required to pay $100 on arrival which goes to help improve the environment and tourist facilities. The climate is largely determined by ocean currents with two main seasons – the warm wet season which lasts from January to June, and a cool dry season from July to December. There is no best time to visit although if you want to see the Albatross the best time is May through December. There are daily flights from Ecuador to the island of Balta and on most days to San Cristóbal. To visit most of the sites you must travel by boat and there are a number of licensed operators offering cruises from 3 to 15 days with many offering specialist trips such as scuba diving, photograph, botany or ornithology. Tourist numbers are controlled and currently capped at 60,000 a year. There are a number of strict park rules which are rigorously adhered to in order to ensure that the biodiversity of each island is preserved. Remember to take plenty of film and batteries with you as shops are mainly limited to Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz which, depending on your itinerary, you will probably only visit once.
© Corinne Hitching, 2001
|
