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Published: April 21st 2006
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A Giant Tortoise - the last of its breed.Don't be fooled by the title, Guayaquil is a huge city which holds 2.6 million people making it Ecuador´s most populated city. It centre is in the mouth of the river Guayas. The city is currently under-going a massive civil engineering project which involves the building of a new metro and new roads. All this buiding chaos just added to the busyness and dustiness of this city.
The journey to Guayaquil was hair raising. There was plenty of fog and it seemed the bus driver was in a hurry. We screeched around hair-pin bends as they suddenly appeared in the mist. As the fog cleared we were out of the mountains and into the tropical region again, the temperature increased and the scenery turned from green grass to miles of banana plantations. The only break in the plantations was for a small airport, but even that had crop-spraying as its main purpose from what I could see of the aircraft.
The draw to Guayaquil for us was that it had an airport with flights to the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos Islands are a series of volcanic islands 1000km west of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. Charles Darwin proved his
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Pelican with a wingspan bigger than Tasmin's theory of evolution here as the wildlife has been free to develop for almost 2m years without hindrance (until recently) from mankind. We left Guyaquil the next day and arrived at Baltra mid afternoon. We then got a bus and ferry to Puerto Ayora where all the travel agencies are. Even our bus/ferry journey took us past lizards in the road, sealions in the water and pelicans in the sky.
It was very hot and we spent quite a bit of time shopping around for a good tour, eventually we found one within our budget a 4 day three night tour taking in most of the highlights of the islands. The tour was to start on the Thursday and end on the Sunday allowing us time to see more of the islands highlights on our spare days. Galapagos is a tourist destination and as such quite expensive, we managed to seek out a Comida Aribe restaurant however where we procured falafel and humous for a bargain price - lovely! We spent the rest of the evening by the sea watching the pelicans fishing. Most of the larger wildlife has no predators and therefore no fear, even of man. The
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Noel with a Giant Tortoise pelicans with their wingspan longer than that of Tas are quite scarey as they fly by within inches of your head. The rocks were covered in bright orange Sally Light-foot crabs, very light on their toes - hence the lightfoot name I guess.
The next day we went to the Charles Darwin research station, the scientific and information centre where all the monitoring of the islands and its inhabitants is done. The site is also a refuge for the giant tortoise that roams wild on some of the islands.
The centre explains the importance of the islands because of their biological independence. No body is allowed to bring organics to the islands, not even things like apples in a packed lunch in case the seeds germinate and produce an infestation of apple trees. The importance of ongoing monitoring of the adaption of species is also emphasised. An example of which is the Iguana - the land and marine iguana on one of the islands have started to breed with each other, this hybrid is exclusive to the island and is only a product of the last few decades.
The centre gives the following example of the good
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Turtle Bay Beach and bad influences of man. One of the islands was the exclusive residence of a type of iguana for many years but during the second world war the amercians chose this island as an army base. With the introduction of the soildiers came dogs, goats, rats and the iguana population soon became endangered. One of the soldiers noticed this reduction in the iguana population and moved a couple of them to another island where left alone they kept up their numbers. The iguana has now been reintroduced to its original island which is having a postitive effect on all aspects of the wildlife of the island. It was all very interesting.
At one time a quarter of a million giant tortoises roamed these islands. Within 50 years of habitation by man however, this population was reduced to 15 and the extinction of many different breeds. The population is now back up in its hundreds and protected. There is a tortoise called George at the centre who is the last of his type and despite efforts to get him to breed with other tortoises, he is not interested. There is talk of cloning him but this goes against the whole
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Noel at the Cactus forest evolution thing so is unlikely, we have probably seen the last of George's breed.
As well as George the centre is also home to the world's oldest creature, a giant tortoise called Harriet who is 176 years old. There are many tortoises at the centre as part of the breeding program and despite their near extinction by man they have no fear. I always wanted a tortoise as a child but because of their endangered tag export of them was rightly prohibited. I feel so privileged to have been given the opportunity to see them in their natural environment and am able to say I have tickled the chin of the oldest living creature on earth. Cool.
As is the way with Ecuador the day had another surprise for us. The tour we had booked had been cancelled due to 'mechanical failure´. We had heard stories of this type of malarky from other travellers; there are two possible explanations for this cancellation :
1. The tour company want more money from you so offer you the next available tour which happens to be twice the price
2. There were not enough people for the tour to be profitable
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Sleeping Sealion so the agent knowing that you don´t have a set package bumps you a couple of days until he gathers enough people.
As expected we were offered a more expensive tour which we refused and then after much debate and bargaining we were moved to a three night 4 day tour starting on the saturday. This was cutting it fine as we were leaving on the tuesday but we were assured we would be dropped at the airport in time so all was well. This new schedule allowed us to do other things before boarding the boat.
The first day we spent at Bahia Tortuga (Turtle Bay). When we left Brazil I assumed we had seen the last of beautiful beaches and warm water, our little detour to the Galapagos prooved this assumption wrong however. The beach was beautiul with soft white fluffy sand and aqua marine sea. Although the seas were rough and swimming was prohibited, the tide was out which created a natural pool at one end of the beach. Luckily we had taken good advice and hired snorkelling equipment for the afteroon, a wise choice as the pool was full of beautiful fish, different types
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The bull after his fight of every colour of the rainbow.
After snorkelling for a while we walked round to the next beach, a much quieter bay with calmer seas. We snorkelled and swam in the warm water once again then relaxed in the shade of a tree.
I may be going on a bit about how fearless the wildlife is here but I need to emphasize how much so. There was a guy just down the beach from us and he was feeding little birds from his hands, it was like the scene from Mary Poppins. We walked back through the cactus forest, we had seen cactus forest before near San Pedro in Chile, but this one was much older and a lot more dense. The Galapagos is on the equator and even ant 7pm it was still hot. We booked a tour to one of the islands for the next day then went to bed.
Our next days destination was Isla Plaza Sur, an Island to the east of Isla Santa Cruz. We were picked up by a coach at 9am then transfered to a boat for the two hour journey. The morning was spent walking the islands paths, no
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A land iguana one is allowed to walk just anywhere outside of the main towns. In order to visit any of the islands you need to be accompanied by a guide. The guides are all registered and very knowledgable as they are often biologists studying on the islands. As soon as we reached the island we were greeted by sealions, the bull had just been in a fight and was still a bit angry. He was not keen on letting us past his harem and was very vocal and at one point went for our guide. Have I mentioned the wildlife here has no fear of man? I could go on about the Galapagos and each island´s intricacies but I don´t want to bore you too much, all that's to say is that we learned loads about and saw iguanas - marine, land and the hybrid mentioned earlier, Blue Boobies, other birds and lots of fauna.
We went back to the boat for lunch then went snorkelling in the afternoon. While snorkelling we saw many coloured fish and (cue Jaws music) white tipped sharks. They were about 1.5 metres long and were resting at the bottom of the sea, luckily for us
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Sealion on the red sand beach at Rabidas they only eat small fish and crustaceans. They still made us feel scared. We boarded the boat and on the way back saw dolphins from afar - at least the guide said they were dolphins but we were not quite close enough to be sure.
Another fantastic day of learning which increased our desire to know more about Galapagos but the books in the stores were over $40 so we will wait until we get home. We ended the day with a few Caipirinhas and I got a little tiddly, it was our last night in Puerto Ayora on the islands of Santa Cruz after all.
We woke up very excited the next day as it was the day we started our boat trip, but unfortunately not until the afternoon. The morning was spent packing, checking out and buying provisions for our journey (water, snacks and booze). We were at the agents for 2pm as requested. We thought we would be going to the boat then to put our stuff aboard before our first outing but this was not the case. Along with Steffan, a guy from Sweden who was also on our tour we were driven to
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Pelican on the red sand beach at Rabidas the mountains where a guide showed us three natural holes. We had seen bigger and better previously so were not that impressed. Next we walked down a lava tunnel, created by the flow of lava it was a little more exciting but still lacked a wow factor. Next we went to a farm where tortoises roamed free and we learned a bit more about them including the fact that the length of copulation for a tortoise is 2 hours, no wonder George at over 100 years old can be persuaded to procreate!
We got back to the office at about 5pm to be told we would be picked up soon for the transfer to the boat which was not in the port 20m away as expected but in acual fact at the other side of the island. After much hoo-ha and to-ing and fro-ing our guide turned up to collect us at 7.30pm - he was quite drunk - he introduced himself as Fabian then disappeared. We eventually boarded the boat at 10pm. All this hastle was getting us down but this all changed when we got on the boat. We were expecting a basic class of boat with
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Penguins at Isla Santiago a shared bathroom but what we got was a cabin with private bathroom, air-conditioning, a communal area with a bar and many other luxuries including DVD player. We immediately settled in with a glass of wine and Tas had a quick salsa with the barman. Our guide was no-where to be seen all night but we were feeling upbeat.
After a rocky nights sleep (we were in a boat at sea with waves so the boat was rocking quite a bit) we were woken by a bell at 7am and immediately served a fantastic breakfast. Our guide was present (all be it hungover) and he explained the itinery for the day as well as all the other need to knows. After a shaky start we knew that from that point all was going to go well, as the guide was quite a character.
The morning was spent on and around Isla Rabidas an island to the north-west of Santa Cruz. On its red beach (caused by erosion of the surrounding land) we saw sealions, pelicans and lots of Sally Lightfoot crabs. We then went snorkelling and saw many different coloured fish, a pink and turquoise one that looked
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The sea lion nuzzling in beautiful, one with a massive forehead and one with massive teeth that made it look like it had a massive smile. So contagious was it´s smile that we both swallowed a load of seawater when we spotted it. We also saw starfish, huge ones on the seabed. The boat sailed while we ate a fantastic lunch so we could spend the afternoon on Isla Chino Sombrero.
Chino Sombrero is an island with penguins, sealions and marine iguanas - no land or hybrid types here. The island also boasts three types of lava one caused by slow lava flows, one caused by fast lava flows and an ash-type lava which is thrown from the exploding volcano. It is all very interesting and has spurred me on to an interest in geology - book tokens for Christmas please. On the white sand beach (indicating an older beach as white sand is caused by worn coral and the skeleton tissue of marine life) we saw many Sally Lightfoot crabs, their orange colour contrasting vividly against the white background.
Later that afternoon we went snorkelling, the water was significantly cooler than the morning as this is where the cold and warm currents
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Frigate birds following our boat of the Pacific meet - ideal for the penguins but a bit chilly for us.
That evening as the boat sailed to the next destination there was a flock of Frigate birds flying alongside our boat. They have a 2m wingspan but they seemed to be using the upwinds from the boat to keep aloft rather than their potential power. After sunset we had dinner and played cards with Steffan and a South-African couple.
We were up early the next day for breakfast and our daily briefing from Fabian. The morning was spent at an area on Isla Santiago which was a bay 10 years ago but is now a black cooled lava surface all wrinkly and bubbly suggesting it had been a slow moving river of lava. The only sign of life was some very small plants that Fabian explained were the beginning of life on the islands. The small plants grow in the cracks that appear in the lava after a few years. Over time these plants die and rot creating a soil which airbourne seeds can root in. These plants then provide food for small animals which in turn provide food for bigger animals. The
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View from Volcano on Bartolome island presence of the bigger animals is explained by their ability to go without food or water for a long period allowing them to survive the floating journey from the mainland. Giant tortoises have a reservoir in their backs that allow them to go without water for up to a year. Fabian was not sure how the penguins made it though, the Arctics are a long way away.
Our next outing took us on a hike up an extinct volcano on Bartolome Island affording us magnificnet views of many of the other islands. After lunch on the boat we went snorkelling in Sullivan bay where we saw more beautiful fish only this time we saw white tipped sharks swimming past us. They looked scarey enough last time resting at the bottom but when they swim by they look very menacing and much more frightening. We also saw penguins fishing, or so we thought - at longer inspection it seemed they were just teasing the scholes of fish. To add to the fear of the sharks we saw a schole of about 15 stingrays each of them with a 50cm wingspan, swimming in formation - they looked like a stealth bomber.
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Dolphins playing for us When we had finished snorkelling I sat on the beach and a sealion came up to me and started nuzzling into my side, did I say how fearless the wildlife is here?
Another fantastic day of nature. As we watched the sunset there was a shout from the captain and everyone ran to the front of the boat. A couple of dolphins were swimming along side us, jumping in and out of the water and swimming under the boat from one side to the other. I had never seen dolphins up close before and this was an amazing first time spectacle. They stayed and played with us for about 10 minutes, I am sure they knew we were watching and they were just showing off.
After dinner we watched 'City of God´which Steffan had bought in Peru. It is a film about the Favelas in Rio. I could not believe it when South Africa asked 'Do people really live like that?´she had visited Rio on this trip and it seems to me a shame that people can be so ignornant of their surroundings, a trip like this should be a learning experience, not just a holiday. We were
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Blue-footed boobies - hilarious clown type birds leaving the boat the next day so the crew provided us with goodbye drinks.
We were up even earlier the next day for our breakfast and briefing as we were visiting North Seymour Island before being dropped off at the airport. It was supposed to be a dry landing which means you are taken from the boat by dingy to a rocky shoreline or jetty where you disembark. In this case however just as Tas and Fabian were getting off a massive wave lifted the boat and catapulted them both into the water. They were lucky to fall into water, a few feet either way and it would have been broken bones and cuts from the jagged rocks.
On North Seymore we saw Blue-footed boobies doing their courting dance. It's a very clumsy looking routine made all the more funny by them having big blue clown-like feet. We also saw many gulls including frigate birds on the pull, they have red sacks on their chest that they inflate to attract their mate.
We sailed to Baltra (the island with the airport) and flew back to Guayaquil that afternoon. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Galapagos and it
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Frigate birds on the pull has sparked many new interests for us both as well as adding practical experience to the theory we learned at school in science and biol. If only school trips had been to Galapagos I would have learned a lot more!
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the daughter
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aww
how cool is that! a sealion coming up to you for a hug bless, not the first time though dad do you remember the horse that did that to you in scotland i think animals must just want hugs and attention from you. intreasting blog amazing how the animals aren't scared love u both lots xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx