Galapagos Islands

Overview:

The home of Dar­win­ism, the Gala­pa­gos Islands are a geo­log­i­cal and wildlife enthu­si­asts dream – with the 61 islands being home to some 9,000 dif­fer­ent species of ani­mals – includ­ing the illu­sive giant tor­toise, rare igua­nas, stun­ning lava lizards and even whales and pen­guins – and some of the world’s great­est beach­es, mak­ing these almost untouched and unde­vel­oped islands a true won­der of the world.

Although offi­cial­ly belong­ing to Ecuador, the islands are found more than 1,000 km away from the coun­tries land bor­der in the heart of the stun­ning Pacif­ic Ocean and against a back­drop of active vol­ca­noes and lush scenery that sus­tains the many marine and land-based species who call the island home.

In fact so unique are the species that inhib­it the Islands, that the Gala­pa­gos — along­side being both a Nation­al Park and a Marine Reserve and one of the most pro­tect­ed places on earth with a stric

or lim­it in place and tours only allowed with reg­is­tered guides — is famed for allow­ing ‘evo­lu­tion to be wit­nessed in motion’ with the evo­lu­tion­ary cycle on offer in the vary­ing species of life, com­bined with its unique loca­tion and many stun­ning inhab­i­tants mak­ing these unique islands a true won­der of the world.

Where:

While the 61 islands belong to Ecuador, they are locat­ed in the mid­dle of the Pacif­ic Ocean and acces­si­ble from flight by Quito. The islands unique loca­tion also mean that they cross both the north­ern and south­ern hemi­spheres – although you can expect tem­per­a­tures on the islands to remain the same regard­less of the hemi­sphere they belong to !

Getting there:

The islands unique posi­tion means a long jour­ney – booked months in advance is required to get to them, with strict vis­i­tor lim­its in place at all times.

The best option is to fly to the cap­i­tal of Ecuador and the love­ly town of Quito before fly­ing on to the two islands with air trav­el either San Cristo­bal or Bal­tra, and from there explor­ing the islands through either a series of day trips or onboard a cruise.

Best time to Visit:

While the Islands are acces­si­ble all year round and giv­en their unique posi­tion sus­pect to fre­quent rain­storms – the best time to vis­it is between the months of Decem­ber to May ‑where the tem­per­a­tures drop a lit­tle mak­ing for a cool­er expe­ri­ence, and more impor­tant­ly the wildlife is in abun­dance across all the islands.

Explore:

There are two main ways to explore the islands once you get there – by a week long cruise across the islands, with hik­ing, div­ing and more remote islands on offer or by bas­ing your­self in one of the inhib­it­ed islands of San Cristo­bal, San­ta Cruz or Flo­re­ana and doing a series of day trips out to islands – (or both for those with an extreme bud­get).

Either option requires you to pre-reg­is­ter with the Ecuador gov­ern­ment to get per­mis­sion to vis­it the islands (vis­it http://www.gobiernogalapagos.gob.ec) and have a reg­is­tered tour guide (so you can for­get going into the wild) and across the whole islands, there are only 115 des­ig­nat­ed vis­i­tor sites – 54 on land and 61 in the water which you can only vis­it in 2‑hour shifts – so any trip to the Islands will be well struc­tured to pro­tect the nat­ur­al beau­ty of the island.

Land Based option: For those doing day trips, along­side hav­ing more flex­i­bil­i­ty in your options, oper­at­ing on a small­er option and get­ting to choose your evening meal – you will also be in a posi­tion where you are lim­it­ed to vis­it­ing five islands in one day and will be tak­en to the main sites of the islands – with the more unique islands lying fur­ther way from the inhib­it­ed islands.

Cruise: If using a cruise to explore the Gala­pa­gos Islands, make sure it’s a small one ! – there are options for 100 pas­sen­gers to board a cruise around the islands, which inevitably has an impact on the wildlife you see as they get scared off. For cruis­es you can expect to vis­it more remote islands, vis­it more scenic beach­es and hik­ing treks (where you’ll need a dingy to get ashore) and have eas­i­er access to Scu­ba Div­ing (there are spe­cial­ly designed scu­ba div­ing boats for those pro divers) for a chance to see the elu­sive whales, igua­nas and sharks that spend their time in the reefs.

Whichev­er option you get your­self a trip which takes you to the three main islands of Españo­la, Fer­nan­d­i­na and the Flo­re­ana Island – all of which are con­sid­ered prime tourist and explo­ration sites and are home to the Giant Tor­tois­es, Pen­guins and igua­nas which are must see on the islands.

Regard­less of the option can expect to enjoy and explore the islands with; Wildlife watch­ing, snorkelling, div­ing, trekking and for those who want to get even more into the Dar­win­ism spir­it vol­un­teer­ing in assist­ing habi­tat restora­tion.

How long to stay:

Although Dar­win spent 5 weeks in the Gala­pa­gos Islands, we’d rec­om­mend tak­ing a lit­tle less time – but still bud­get­ing at least a week on the islands (exclud­ing time trav­el­ling to and from the islands) with the more time you spend at the won­der – the more time you have to expe­ri­ence and spot the evo­lu­tion­ary wildlife and enjoy the beach­es.

Giv­en the length of tours, and the gov­ern­ment lim­its, most trav­ellers can expect to spend 10 days in total in their explo­ration of the Gala­pa­gos Islands.

Top Tip:

Along­side bring­ing a high-qual­i­ty cam­era (both for land and div­ing) – it’s impor­tant to remem­ber that while there are strict rules in place to gov­ern activ­i­ty in the island and ani­mal inter­ac­tion – the ani­mals them­selves aren’t aware of these and can’t be rea­soned with, so take care if approached by a tur­tle, seal or shark.

Cost:

Although the islands are hard to reach, tourism is a key mon­ey mak­er for assist­ing in pre­serv­ing the islands but be warned tours are pricey owing to the lim­it­ed num­bers allowed on the islands at any one time.

Once you’ve got your flights from Quito (bud­get for around $500 return) you can expect to pay around $100 USD for a night in a hotel on any of the inhib­it­ed islands, and then around $3000 usd for a series of land tours and $3,200 for an aver­age cruise – although cheap­er options are avail­able if you shop around.

How­ev­er, despite the price, the nat­ur­al beau­ty of the islands, com­bined with the abun­dance of unique wildlife make a trip to the Gala­pa­gos Islands a wor­thy invest­ment.

Fun Fact:

Despite their iso­lat­ed, the Islands are actu­al­ly home to some 25,000 Span­ish speak­ing peo­ple who man­age the islands and pre­pare tourist trips – they don’t fac­tor in to the 9,000 unique wildlife inhab­i­tants of the islands.

Best photo spot:

While the islands beach­es are always stun­ning and any shot of a unique wildlife is a mem­o­ry that will stay with you for­ev­er – grab­bing a pho­to (or even a self­ie) of either a ham­mer­head shark or the illu­sive and endan­gered under­wa­ter Igua­na (a baby Godzil­la) on a div­ing trip is a tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence – speak to some of the div­ing trips before hand about head­ing for the best spots to see them.