Archive of month: October 2018

Photo taken at Isabela Island, Galapagos Ecuador

In the highlands of Isabela I met Igniacio. “I was born here but now I moved with all my family down to the coast, where I work as a security guard. However I still have my land here and take care of it every day. Look how many beautiful plants there are! Actually before the National Park was created we used to have even more fertile land around here. Now it’s gone because we can’t use it
6 years ago

Photo taken at Isla Isabela, Galapagos, Ecuador

Moving far from the coast I was able to explore some of the highlands, where the landscape changes completely. While moving up the vegetation starts filling the horizon. Some of the land was left outside of the National park and is still being cultivated by locals to grow avocado, banana, coffee and others local products
6 years ago

Photo taken at Isabela Island, Galapagos Ecuador

On Isabela, the biggest but not so populated island of the Galapagos archipelago, I had a chance to chat with some of the elder members of the community. “When I was young there was no tourism here, we mainly survived on agriculture and fishing. There were no cars and only small gravel roads that went from the coast to the highlands, where most of us were living. Tourism improved our economy and most of us moved to the coast to take advantage of that
6 years ago

Photo taken at Galapagos Islands

But enough with postcard-like animal pictures from Galapagos. I want to take a moment to talk about how urbanization is changing the face of the island. Before, you could find mainly simple houses (like this first one on Isabela) and bigger houses made with traditional wood techniques (like this second shot on San Cristobal). Today they have been almost completely replaced by brick houses, with a lot of them having one or two completed storey and an additional one still half-built. The small towns on the main islands are growing vertically
6 years ago

Photo taken at San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos

It’s basically impossible to visit the Galápagos without meeting the most abundant (and lazy) mammal species on the islands. You will always find them lying on the beach or even “parked” next to your bike on the seafront. As other species they are threatened by the collapse of marine life upon which they depend and by plastic pollution.
6 years ago

Photo taken at San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos

The Galapagos green turtle is only commonly seen in a few other places in the world. This species is threatened mainly by habitat degradation and diseases, as well as light pollution which fatally attracts hatchlings away from the sea towards human settlements
6 years ago

Photo taken at Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador

Blue-footed boobies are large birds typical of Galapagos. Their distinctive color is linked to the large amount of sardines they eat. Research suggests that decline of their population in the islands in recent years is tied to a decreasing in the quantity of this fish and probably the amount of plastic in the ocean
6 years ago

Photo taken at Isabela Island, Galapagos Ecuador

Marine iguanas are another species found only on the Galápagos Islands. They are not the cutest animals and at first sight they can look scary, but are actually gentle herbivores, surviving on underwater algae and seaweed
6 years ago

Photo taken at Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador

The first endemic animal I got to meet on my first hour in the Galapagos is the one who gave the name to the islands, the giant tortoise. The slow pace of this huge reptile inspired me to take it easy for a couple of days while still on my dense journey
6 years ago