Ever since I saw two giant tortoises at the old Penang Reptile Farm (which no longer exists today), the Galapagos Islands have always been on my travel bucket list.
Last year, my wife and I started planning for a 30-day holiday that would include visits to several cities in the United States and Ecuador, where the Galapagos Islands are. Our journey began in early February this year, just before the Covid-19 pandemic started spreading globally. We were lucky that we did not get infected, and that we were not affected by the lockdowns or border closures imposed on many countries around the world.
After spending a week in Hawaii, we made our way to the Galapagos Islands, which is almost 1,000km west of Ecuador. We boarded a cruise ship – the fastest one operating around the islands – with other tourists and naturalist guides.
We sailed to Santa Cruz Island and were transported by a dinghy to the shore. Then, we travelled by vehicles to the central highlands to visit the tortoise reserve. We saw many giant tortoises walking about (slowly, of course) or having a mud bath. We were fortunate to witness a male tortoise “chasing” after a female until she was trapped in the bushes. The movement of the branches and the male’s loud grunts indicated that he had succeeded in mating.
The next day, we were at Genovesa Island, where we marvelled at the variety of birds and a colony of sea lions that used the crevices of the lava cliffs for shelter.
Some of the birds we saw included the red-footed boobies, blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, and the impressive frigate birds with the male inflating his throat air sac to enormous size, indicating his virility. We also saw herons, Galapagos doves, crabs and lava lizards.
On the third day, we went back to Santa Cruz Island to visit Dragon Hill, where the black marine iguanas are. These iguanas, which are not really good looking, are endemic to the island so we were lucky to see them.
We walked past numerous giant prickly pear cacti, some of which are about 150 years old, and found some land iguanas which are more attractive compared to their marine cousins. Some of them were munching on succulent cacti and other vegetation.
In the afternoon, we sailed to the nearby Santa Fe island and went snorkelling. We were fascinated by the beautiful coral reefs and fishes and crystal clear water. A sea lion swam near us, while a green turtle and several sting rays swam past.
On our last day, we went to Santa Cruz Island again, this time walking along the beach to a lagoon. We saw more marine iguanas and a flamingo bird. We were extremely fortunate to see a sea turtle struggling to get back to sea after laying eggs on the beach.
Our short adventure on the archipelago may have cost us quite a bit of money, but it was a very rewarding trip as we saw so many gorgeous animals, including the not-so-good-looking marine iguanas!
On hindsight, we should have stayed back another night, as we were told by a friend whom we met on the ship, that she was able to see the albatross bird, some penguins and whales the next day, too.
Having seen the Galapagos Islands, I feel satisfied and am happy to “give up” travelling for the next one year or so. By that time, I do hope that the pandemic will be over and we can travel abroad again.
The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own. Write to us
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