Fantasy Island(s)....(posting from the road)

Galapagos is like a make believe land to me. It is truly a place where the humans are just like every other animal. I grew up with a love of animals – we used to have an assortment of Canadian wildlife in my backyard quite frequently; wolves, bears, moose, skunks etc. But all of these animals would flee at the first site of a human. I can’t really blame them – many people have a nasty habit of shooting them. I can remember being a kid and thinking how neat it would be for them to go about their day, while I do the same – sounds like a utopia doesn’t it?

But here is that fantasy place, when everything is protected, you literally walk and swim amongst the wildlife. We share hiking trails with iguanas, beaches with crabs, roads with tortoises and the water with sea lions. Not only do these things not fear us...they approach out of curiosity. In the Galapagos, everyone and everything is equal.
The Galapagos are actually a collection of about 100 islands in the Pacific, off the coast of Ecuador that rest right along the Equator. As they are home to several endemic species of both plants and animals, they remain a unique biological destination. It was here that Charles Darwin had the early development of his theory of evolution.

Man of course came along and messed things up. Pirates, whalers and buccaneers utilized the islands as a sort of supermarket and would frequently stop for provisions when heading out to sea. (A tortoise can live a long time with water, making a delicious meal of fresh meat far into a sailor’s journey) And then the Americans set up a naval base to watch for any potential threat to the Panama Canal – their arrival continued to introduce new species to the lands that altered the evolution course – cats, dogs, rats, insects, plants etc. And, until the 1950’s – there were penal colonies on the islands that housed prisoners from several different countries; all inadvertently introducing new species while dining on the endemic ones.

Until a few years ago the Galapagos was seeing 750,000+ visitors a year. Thousands of people were diving and even more were traipsing all over the islands. This was such a concern that UNESCO actually pulled their recognition due to irresponsible behaviour. Things changed dramatically here after that I am told. Diving from tour boats is now prohibited, and the day diving trips are only to a few sites. The number of tour boats has been dramatically reduced as well; only 100 boats are allowed to operate in the islands. The annual visitor rate is now sitting at the 160,000 mark. Similar to the dive sites, there are only 70 places on the whole Galapagos that tourists can visit – the rest (the vast majority) of the Galapagos remain forbidden. Snorkelling sites are severely restricted as well.

There rules here are strictly enforced as well...no touching the animals, no fruit on the islands. Shoes must be thoroughly scrubbed between island visits. Our luggage, and inadvertently our lungs, were all treated with some sort of pesticide to ensure that we do not introduce something new to this teeny paradise. The luggage is also x-rayed and hand searched. Even though we have already cleared Ecuadorian customs, our passports and intentions for visiting are re-questioned.

It seems like a lot of overkill...until you see your first iguana or tortoise, or blue footed booby...and realize...it’s all worth it. Today I had the chance to do what I have always wanted to do...walk with the animals as equals – a truly amazing feeling.

(ps...still sorting - tons of Galapagos photos to come...)