Seven Days on the Galapagos

(i) The Wildlife

Following our magic birding expedition around Quito and the western Andes we flew to San Cristobal island on the Galapagos where we met up with the other 11 members of our Intrepid tour of the islands. They were from Australia, Canada and England, and were a great bunch to travel around with, expertly guided by Ecuadorian Jennifer. We used public speedboats to ferry us the quite long distances between three main islands (Isla San Cristobal, Isla Isabela and Isla Santa Cruz) – these were typically 2 to 2.5 hours duration across quite rough waters and casualty rates were quite high.

The wildlife and terrain lived up to our expectations, not many bird species compared with the mainland where we had just come from, but quite unique. The animals were wonderful, even though we all had seen them many times on screens for many years.

The second last day featured the 17km walk up and around the crater of Sierra Negra which we had been dreading for several months. It turned out to be a glorious day, clear blue skies giving wonderful views of the huge crater and surrounding terrain. It was worth the exhaustion, blisters and Peter’s torn calf muscle!!

Here are some pics of the birds and animals we encountered….

  • Vermilion Flycatcher
  • American Flamingo
  • American Flamingo
  • Galapagos Penguin
  • Lava Heron
  • Yellow Warbler
  • Great Frigatebird
  • Blue footed Boobies
  • Blue footed Boobies
  • Blue footed Booby chick
  • Frigatebird with chicks
  • Booby chick
  • Blue feet!
  • Blue footed Booby
  • Brown Pelican
  • Great Frigatebird
  • Medium Ground Finch
  • Galapagos Tortoise
  • Galapagos Tortoise
  • Galapagos Tortoise
  • Marine Iguana -deceased!
  • Marine Iguana with friend
  • Marine Iguanas
  • Marine Iguanas
  • Land Iguana
  • Galapagos Tortoise

 

2 thoughts on “Seven Days on the Galapagos”

  1. Hi Lins & Peter, great photos, hope it’s all downhill from now on! x Heather & Rick (just arrived in Ljubljiana, Slovenia after wedding festivities in Zagreb) Rick will post a blog later Rickandheathergobalkan.wordpress.com

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