GALAPAGOS
One swam so close to my face that it ended up kissing me on the forehead
don’t think anyone in the whole world has ever been as pleased to see me as the baby sea lions at Santa Fe island. This isn’t damning their welcome with faint praise – people rarely cross the road to avoid me and I’m reliably informed I’m only averagely annoying. Those pups were just so very, very thrilled I’d come to play that it would make the reunion of long-lost twins separated at birth look half-hearted. They shot over as I snorkelled towards them like excitable rubber bullets, pirouetting around me through the warm shallows. One swam so close to my face that after a moment looking into each other’s eyes, it ended up kissing me on the forehead; this, I’ll admit, may have been accidental. But the game of chase we played next – me swimming in a circle trailed by 12 babies, occasionally nibbling at my flippers – was entirely of their choosing. In most of the world, mankind’s
I
relationship with wildlife has been seriously soured. After years of systematic abuse, our fellow creatures cringe away from us. The best we can manage is to sneak up on them, slowly, quietly, and watch in wonder until they notice and flee.
Not so in the Galapagos islands. If we’ve gone through an acrimonious divorce from
the animal kingdom everywhere else, in these remote islands, we’ve just started dating. Although we’ve screwed up once or twice since the first human settlement in 1833 – the vastly diminished numbers of giant tortoises are testament to that – we’re still in that honeymoon period, before they’ve really learnt to fear us. Not everything is as happy to see me as the sea lions, but about the worst I encounter is total indifference. And that’s a reaction I’m used to, even outside the Galapagos.
WEIRD WILDLIFE
The Galapagos’ unique and sometimes strange range of endemic creatures – the infamous giant tortoises, boobies with bright blue feet, the world’s only equatorial penguins – and the chance to walk and swim among them, combine to make it perhaps the world’s premier wildlife destination. Even clients who have taken spectacular safaris, tracked tigers or trekked jungles will be dazzled.
The islands are 600 miles from mainland
Ecuador, but it feels like the journey should be measured in millennia instead. The lack of settlement and the volcanic terrain create an atmosphere so prehistoric you’d hardly be surprised to stumble over a dinosaur.
TOP: Frigate birds MIDDLE: Marine iguanas BOTTOM: Blue-footed booby FACING PAGE: Sally lightfoot crabs
aspire september 2014 — 77
PHOTOS: JOANNA BOOTH/METROPOLITAN TOURING
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