Visiting Galapagos Islands is indeed one of the most unique travel experience. Visiting Dubrovnik , got a feeling of visiting a place frozen in time five hundred years, visiting Pompei ruins gave a feeling of visiting a place two thousand years back in time. However visiting Galapagos Islands is an experience of visiting the place two millions of year back. It is time capsule of period when even homo sapiens had not walked on the planet. This place and trip is very different from others. It is a place frozen in time, like no other place on planet. This is where Charles Darwin did his research for the evolution and found smoking gun in terms of finches for his evolution theory.
Per Moon’s travel book: “ The Galapagos
islands are unquestionably the best
place in the world for wildlife watching both
on the land and in the water.
If you imagine Eden to be place where creatures live and play together in perfect harmony then Galapagos is as close as you can get”
It is not often that you come across a place that is unique
in the world. All too many “must-sees”,
no matter how glowingly described by the guidebooks and friends, seem to pale
in harsh light of reality. But the
Galapagos Islands exist truly without Parallel. Huddled far out in Pacific
Ocean, the archipelago protects a bubble of life like nowhere else on
earth.
Many travel destinations use their wildlife as tourist promotions which is hardly seen by
an average tourist. Flamingo is mascot of the state of the Florida, USA. However the state does not have even one Flamingo
bird outside captivity. Costa Rica promotes
Toucan, which we hardly see. However in
case of Galapagos, the reality far exceeds the poster “Nature’s Paradise” at
the Baltra Airport, Galapagos
Initial impressions of the islands certainly don’t promise
much. But within a day or two of beginning your tour, you will see things you
would never have believed existed. Tortoise in size of armchair, iguanas that
swim, birds with blue feet that all are completely nonplussed by your presence.
This gives one taste of what the Earth was like well before the human race
showed up and started throwing its weight around.
The Galapagos Islands are the flagship of scientific
discovery and applied conservatism. The group consists of 18 main
islands, 3 smaller islands, and 107 islets or rocks. So
to see them properly, travel in
a small boat and
zodiac is required. Many islands require the wet landing to see. The
islands sit above the Galapagos hotspot where the Earth's crust is being melted
from below by a mantle plume, which creates volcanoes.
The oldest of the islands, more than 4 million years old, are slowly
disappearing back below sea level. The youngest islands Isabela and Fernandina
are still in the process of being formed with 13 volcanic eruptions in the
archipelago over the last 100 years.
The landscapes
of the Galapagos are diverse and
otherworldly as the wildlife
that inhabit them.; Lush highland forests, pristine white
sand beaches, steaming volcanic
peaks, blacked lava trails, red
rocked land, heavy pebbled land, arid and dessert like land,… No human has lived here or living here except for three islands.
We were lucky to see a wide set of wild life including the Giant tortoise, iguanas, Sea lions, especially the Red Frigate, Nazca Bobby, Blue-footed boobies in mating season,
I took my heavy canon 2.8 70mm-200mm lens with 2X extender. However with brutal sun , difficult terrain to walk, I skipped tripod often and compromised the photography and the videography. So this is not a National Geography or David Attenborough videography, It may add to the perspective of the wild life at Galapagos. You may see how it is the "bubble of life"
Video of Galapagos : ( 10 Min.)
( Background : Film Hatari Baby Elephant walk, Bollywood, Narration by Naturalist ..)
I will be adding the picture link of the photo-albums for each day later.
