Struggle for existence, and natural selection (Charles Darwin, Origin of Species)
The Galapagos Islands
Our home away from home was a motor yacht, the Lobo Del Mar - no luxury liner, but adequate for our amazing tour of these remarkable islands.
My main interest and the reason for wishing to go to these islands, is the amazing Marine Iguana. This reptile has adapted to the coastal zones of the islands and feeds exclusively on algae which grows beneath the shallow waters around the rocky shores.
These little creatures are jet black and look truly pre-historic.
This is the most amazing place on the planet to view an incredibly varied and remarkably fearless array of fauna!
The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator, 525 nautical miles (972 km/604 mi) west of continental Ecuador in the Pacific OceanCoordinates: 0°40′S, 90°33′W. (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/)
The Galapagos are truly remarkable and live up to and exceed all expectations.
From ´gay´Lonely George - an ancient Galapagos Tortoise who spent the better part of 30 minutes trying to have sex with the head of a fellow male tortoise (wait til I work out how to upload the video footage of that one!) to dancing Blue Footed Boobies, swimming with white tipped sharks, penguins, sea lions and sea turtles this trip was truly unforgetttable! 
Our journey began at the airport on Baltra Island, a quick transfer by ferry to Santa Cruz and on to Puerto Ayora where we met Lonely George at the Charles Darwin Research Foundation.
The Foundation´s aims are to assist in stabilising at-risk populations of Endemic species and educate the local population and visitors about preservation.
Our home away from home was a motor yacht, the Lobo Del Mar - no luxury liner, but adequate for our amazing tour of these remarkable islands.
My main interest and the reason for wishing to go to these islands, is the amazing Marine Iguana. This reptile has adapted to the coastal zones of the islands and feeds exclusively on algae which grows beneath the shallow waters around the rocky shores.
Little did I know that on our first shore excursion I would see one of these amazing creatures within the first few minutes!
These little creatures are jet black and look truly pre-historic.
The entries that will follow will detail our daily excursions around this remarkable part of our planet and the different species of wild life that are so prolific that you need to watch your every step for fear of standing on one of them!!
Labels: Charles Darwin Research Foundation, Galapagos Islands
posted by Brendan at
9:48 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home