© Dale Leatherman 2005
Like most nature lovers, I have dreamed of close encounters with wildlife that don't make me feel like a stalker. A Dr. Doolittle experience--short on actual conversation, of course, but long on trust and peaceful acceptance. Last spring I found a place where this is a reality--the Galapagos, an isolated 28,000-square-mile archipelago straddling the equator 620 miles off the coast of South America.
According to the Charles Darwin Foundation, "The Galapagos is the largest, most complex and most diverse archipelago remaining in the world still largely in pristine condition. . . . [it is the] most special remaining oceanic island system in the world." Based in Quito, Ecuador, the 46-year-old Darwin Foundation was formed under the auspices of UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (previously World Conservation Union) to preserve the Galapagos ecosystems. It operates the vital Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz.
"Special" is a mild word to describe the wildlife spectacle of my lifetime--an odyssey filled with wonder at every turn of the trail or stroke through the water. I saw mammals, birds, reptiles and plants that exist nowhere else in the world--and nowhere else is the wildlife more approachable. This is the animal kingdom, where critters far outnumber humans and go about their lives with no fear or hostility for the small groups of visitors in their midst.
The memories tumble over each other. Boobies showing off feet of teal blue, red or black. In trailside nests, newborn chicks playing hide-and-seek under their mothers' feathers. Black frigate birds inflating scarlet throat bladders the size of soccer balls to impress females, then lumbering off cliffs to take flight like heavily loaded cargo planes. Sea lions basking lazily on beaches as visitors walk among them, and dashing into the water to play with divers and snorkelers. Beneath the ocean's surface, huge turtles feeding placidly as white-tip and hammerhead sharks glide by. Aquatic iguanas displaying their swimming skills while their landlubber relatives watch.
Both of the Galapagos iguanas descended from their common green cousins on the mainland, but adapted differently to survive. Which is what the Galapagos is all about—adaptation and survival. This is what struck British naturalist Charles Darwin when he visited the islands in 1835 aboard the H.M.S. Beagle. The strange creatures he discovered caused him to theorize about evolution, sparking a never ending debate.
What's remarkable is that you can still see the islands and their inhabitants very much as Darwin saw them, thanks to Ecuador's farsighted environmental protection measures. Since 1959 the islands have been a national park with restricted human settlements on only five of the 13 major islands. With a total landmass of just under 5,000 square miles, the islands range in size from mere spits of land to the largest, the 1,771-square-mile Isabela, which is less than half the size of Hawaii's Big Island. The archipelago, scattered over 28,000 square miles of ocean, is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Galapagos National Park Service controls the number of vessels and visitors and specifies landing areas and walking trails to minimize the impact of tourism. Park Service guides accompany all excursions.
Like Darwin, my fellow passengers and I toured the islands by boat, but we didn’t have to endure an Atlantic voyage to get there. . . .
Contact me to read the entire story or to discuss second rights or a rewrite. daleatherman@cs.com