27th January 2007 |
Alan’s Galapagos Report |
Alan |
My image of the Galapagos Islands, no doubt influenced
by Television over the years, had been of a very arid
landscape. I was pleasantly surprised to see lush
almost tropical vegetation when San Cristobal Island
came in sight and we dropped anchor in Wreck Bay. I
subsequently learned that there had been a lot of rain
in the previous 10 days or so and that it had been
very dry and brown prior to the change of season which
was now the “wet one”!The Island group known as the Galapagos are volcanic
in origin and lie right on the Equator about 600 miles
due west of Ecuador and its main port of Guyaquil.
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| The
isolation of these small islands made them ideal as a
base for pirates in the 16th and 17th centuries and
subsequently they were used by whalers as a source of
water and timber. When HMS Beagle arrived in the
1830’s there were a few Indian occupants engaged in
fishing but it was not until later in the century that
immigrants arrived from Ecuador to establish some
forms of agriculture. It was interesting to learn that
groups of Norwegians and Germans had thought that they
had found Paradise and invested everything they had in
setting up farms. Unfortunately the majority departed
back to Europe within a short period having not
achieved their goals. |
Galapagos |
Today only 5 islands of the 15 in the group are
inhabited and one needs special permission to visit
the non inhabited ones. The islands have been
designated a World Heritage site (like Stonehenge) and
the Ecuadorian government has passed laws creating a
nature reserve from the islands and the surrounding
seas. Visitors arriving by air have to pay a $100 fee
to help protect the National Parks which make up most
of the inhabited islands as well as all of those
uninhabited ones. In view of my limited time I left Little Swan for a 3
day trip to the main Island of Santa Cruz. I went by
fast speedboat and we covered the 60 miles plus in
less than 2 hours. |
| A bit quicker than it would have
been by Little Swan but far more uncomfortable and
noisy! I went to the Darwin Centre where scientists
from around the world are studying different aspects
of life in the area and amongst other work are trying
to prevent the extinction of the Giant Tortoise by a
breeding programme which has been very successful in
halting the decline in numbers. In addition to the
tortoises I saw iguanas (both land and marine types),
penguins, pelicans and of course many friendly sea
lions some of whom I photographed sleeping in our
dinghy! The scientists are also trying to eliminate
all non indigenous species of plants and animals which
have been introduced over the last few centuries so
that the islands can revert to their natural state. I
was very impressed by the approach of the Ecuadorian
Government with its strong environmental message both
on the islands and on the mainland and wanted to stay
in Quito and the southern Andes but my time was up and
arrived back at Gatwick in shorts and T shirt to find
it snowing and trains delayed!! Back to reality after
a great trip.
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