|
The Galapagos IslandsStrange Creatures in Strange LandscapesToni Dabbs
"Watch your step. The lava stones are slippery." "Watch your step. The Masked Boobies build their nests right on the trail." "Watch your step. There's a Land Iguana near your foot." One of the most amazing things about the Galapagos Islands is the fearlessness of the animals. Not only do they allow humans to approach them, but also they frequently approach humans.
During cruises lasting three, four or seven nights, they take passengers ashore for close encounters with Red Footed Boobies, which manage to wrap their webbed feet around branches to perch in Mangrove bushes; Marine Iguanas, which swim in the sea by undulating their bodies; and the once plentiful Giant Tortoises, for which the islands are named. They lead visitors through landscapes that are sometimes bleak and sometimes bizarrely beautiful a crescent beach where turquoise water laps at white shell sand, a forest of short silvery gray Palo Santo trees and tall trunked Prickly Pear cactuses, a "moonscape" of volcanic rock and ash.
Although they work as paid staff of tour operator Ecoventura, they must first complete a rigorous National Park Service training program and then enforce the park's rules and regulations even if that means forbidding a problem passenger from participating in further shore excursions. The rules constitute conservation measures and mostly are a matter of common sense. For example, visitors to the national park portion of the islands must stay on the marked trails. They must neither handle or frighten any animal nor touch or remove any plant. They must not take food ashore, smoke while there, or leave any waste behind. Governed by Ecuador, the Galapagos archipelago consists of 13 major islands, six minor islands and some 40 rock formations and reefs straddling the equator in the Pacific Ocean. They are mainly volcanic in origin and still contain a number of active volcanic sites.
The Galapagos Islands are probably best known for two reasons: Charles Darwin, who developed his theory of evolution after observing variations in species on the islands in 1835; and Giant Tortoises, which already had been slaughtered to the brink of extinction by the time Darwin arrived. Today, tourists can visit the Charles Darwin Research Station at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, where the endangered tortoises are being bred for eventual return to their home islands. The station is funded and staffed by various international entities, including the Smithsonian Institution, the World Wildlife Fund and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), which has designated the islands a World Heritage Site.
Passengers go ashore in motor launches called pangas. For wet landings, they have to sit on the side of the panga, swing their legs over, jump into the water and wade to the beach. For dry landings, they have to step from the bow of the panga, which usually is being rocked by waves, onto piles of slippery stones. Deciding what to pack is fairly easy: shorts, tee shirts, a bathing suit, hat, sunglasses, ample sunscreen, a day pack, and a camera with plenty of film. However, shoes can take up a lot of suitcase space. The rubber soled sports kind will do for most activities, but some visitors will also want to take shoes they can get wet for landings at beaches with sharp coral and sturdy hiking boots for long treks over rough lava stones. For More Information:Galapagos Network by Toni Dabbs Text and copyright 2002 by Toni Dabbs. All rights reserved. |
|
TM
"Watch your step," said Cecibel Guerrero. She and Maria Espinoza seemed to start every shore excursion with those words.
To protect the rare and timid inhabitants of these islands 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, humans are allowed to walk among them only under the supervision of licensed National Park Service guides such as Cecibel and Maria, naturalists from Ecoventura's 20-passenger yacht, the
M/Y Letty.
No matter how many times the two women have guided groups over the same ground, they still get the occasional surprise a pair of Pacific Green Sea Turtles bobbing in a small cove, a pale pink Greater Flamingo swooping low over hikers' heads to land in a quiet lagoon, a Skipjack fish springing in arcs from the water's surface full circle around a trio of
snorkelers.
These are the kinds of unique experiences that Cecibel and Maria are charged with providing to
M/Y Letty passengers today and preserving for generations of visitors to come. Both women share their extensive knowledge of the history of the islands and of the life forms found there with the groups they
lead.
The national park covers approximately 90 per cent of the islands' 7,882-square-kilometer land mass. The remainder is occupied by settlements and farms that existed prior to creation of the national park in 1959. In addition, the 50,000 square kilometers of ocean and seabed in which the islands are located plus a 20,000-square-kilometer buffer zone was declared a Marine Resources Reserve in 1986.
Among creatures native to the Galapagos Islands are: 58 species of birds, including the most northerly penguin in the world; 22 species of reptiles, including the only sea-going lizard in the world; six species of mammals; and 307 species of fish. Because the islands are so remote, virtually all reptile inhabitants and about half of the birds are found nowhere
else.
Travelers embarking on a trip to the Galapagos Islands should have good mobility. To lessen the impact on the environment, only small vessels are permitted to operate cruises in the area. And small crafts tend to be unstable in the open sea, sometimes making it difficult just to walk on deck and sometimes causing motion sickness.
