}
Showing posts with label South America 2006. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South America 2006. Show all posts

25 June 2006

South America travel highlights

I now know, by an almost fatalistic conformity with the facts, that my destiny is to travel...   Ernesto Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries



Here is a final list of our highlights in South America. What an amazing 6 months it has been!


First and foremost


Highlights
  • Sea Lions, Sea Elephants, Guanacos, Rheas, Patagonian Hares and Armodillos at Peninsula Valdes in Patagonia.
  • A colony of half a million Megellanic Penguins at Puerto Tombo in Patagonia.
  • A 12 km hike through Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes along a peninsula to a gorgeous forest of cinnamon barked Arrayan trees
  • A hike through the forest of Parque Municipal Llao Llao in Bariloche
  • Vast lakes with snow capped Andes backdrops in the Lake District, Bariloche.
  • The windy, barren expanses of flat bleakness in Patagonia with its big skies and awesome sunsets.
  • Buenos Airies : What a great city, and the enormous steaks are to die for
  • High tea at Llao Llao hotel in Bariloche - very grand, not suprising considering the $ 600 US you need to spend a night there.
  • Watching birds in a lake reserve in El Calafete
  • Hiking in the Fitzroy Mountains from El Chalten and viewing Laguna Tres and Laguna Torres
  • Watching huge chunks of ice fall of the Moran Glacier
  • Capybaras, caimans and stacks of birds at Provincial Esteros del Iberia
  • The amazing Iguazu Falls
  • Paper falling like snow from the sky scrapers over Buenos Airies over New Year´s so that the pavements and roads became white. This is due to the annual custom of tearing up 2005 dairies (and bank statements!) in anticipation of the New Year and throwing it out their windows. Makes for very busy street sweepers!
  • Learning to communicate in Spanish - thank goodness for our handy phrase book! Also trying to decipher the all Spanish menus - our first couple of meals were pot luck!


Not quite so great...
  • Argentinian blood sausage (we were offered it at a local barbecue and felt it would be disrespectful not to accept. Boy was it hard to swallow - taste, smell and consistency were not in its favour.)
  • Our 50 hour bus journey from El Calafete to Buenos Airies. My toes swelled up like sausages.


Chile


Highlights

Not quite so great...


Brazil


Highlights
  • Exploring the vast swamps of the Pantanol
  • Snorkeling in crystal clear rivers and caving in Bonito
  • Frolicking in the mud in Parati
  • Lazing on the beach in Isla del Mel (Ally)
  • More beaching and many Caipirinhas and sweet cakes on Isla Grande
  • The Christ Statue, Copacabana, football, Favella tour and Sugar Loaf (and meeting up with Russel) in Rio de Janeiro - oh, and did I mention the volleyball !


Not quite so great...
  • Brazil was expensive (particularly transport) and really stretched our budget to the max. Thankfully we pulled it back in cheap Bolivia
  • The most awful meat dish I've ever tried.


Bolivia 


Highlights
  • Exploring hallucinogenic salt deserts, spurting geysers and eerie lagoons around the Uyuni Salt pans
  • Hiking in the jungles of the Amazon basin in the famous Madidi Park
  • Swimming with pink dophins in the Pampas (Ally)
  • Hurtling down the worlds most dangerous road on mountain bikes and then chilling out in Coroico
  • Exploring the Valley of the Moon in Lapaz
  • Lazing in Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca, then hiking and boating to Isla del Sol, the Inca birth place of the sun


Not quite so great...
  • Getting munched my sand flies in Madidi (just check out my poor back!)
  • Withdrawing counterfeit dollars from an ATM (always check!)


Peru


Highlights


Not quite so great...
  • Russell getting his passport, wallet and GPS stolen on a bus to Cusco
  • Saying goodbye to Russell


Ecuador


Highlights


Not quite so great
  • Picking up an invisible mite (probably from the jungle) that bit me to smitherines on and off for three weeks.


Map of places visited


    3 comments
    Labels: ,

    22 June 2006

    Puerto Lopez (coastal town)

    Here we are nearing the end of our South American adventures.  We relaxed by the coast. Lots of wonderful birds to enjoy.

     









    New bird species

    • Laughing falcon
    • Masked water tyrant
    • Vermillion flycatcher
    • Yellow-tailed oriole
    • Yellow-rumped cacique
    • Bat falcon
    • Croaking ground dove
    • Black-capped sparrow
    • Blue-crowned motmot
    • Long-tailed mockingbird
    • Collared plover
    0 comments
    Labels: , , , , , ,

    20 June 2006

    Birding in Mindo

    The town of Mindo, just two hours north of Quito, nestles in the lap of pristine tracts of misty cloud forest.


    It is famous amongst birder watchers as one of the best places in the world to see multiple feathered species. Of the 1500 species in Ecuador (itself a staggering number, especially considering the diminutive size of the country), close to a third reside around Mindo. That's basically 5% of the world's birds in just a 100 square miles. A veritable wet dream for twitchers.

    And I very nearly missed it!!

    Mindo is hidden away in only a small, obscure paragraph in our Lonely Planet "travel bible" and we totally overlooked it. Instead, we raced off from quito to the relatively "birdless" highlands and it was only on the jungle tour that I heard about "the promised land" from some fellow travellors who were waxing lyrical about the "locust swarms" of hummingbirds they had seen there. So we changed our plans (to head south) after Galapagos, and routed our flights back to Quito.

    I am so glad we did. In the 3 days we were there, I saw 78 species (soundly breaking my previous record of 72 in Chitwan, Nepal) and catapulted my life list up to 930. Both Ally and I were entranced by the beauty and tranquility of the forests and the amazing colourful creatures (both butterflies and birds) that we saw.

    If Hummingbirds are the jewels of Mindo, then it is veritably dripping in them. We saw 17 of the staggering 40 species found in the area. They hover around the flowers and sugar water feeders in humming swarms, flashing every brilliant, irradescent colour imaginable. We were captivated and I almost had to pinch myself to believe it. They are extremely curious. Every so often, a hummingbird would fly over and hover just inches from our heads (like a pesky bee) to find out if we happended to be a tasty flower.






    If you think we humans are the only ones to hold breakfast seminars, think again. Here we have a high powered humingbird "round-table" conference. There was much bickering and politics and gulping of sugar water but eventually, it seemed, consensus was reached.



    Julio was our guide for two days and she is was absolutely fabulous. The only female birding guide in Mindo, she is a veritable livewire of energy and was determined to show us every "Mindo special" conceivable in the short time we had. She was also a walking encyclopaedia on the birds and could identify by both sight (no matter how glimpsing) and sound. I can't recommend her enough.



    Apart from the hummingbirds, there were 5 big birding highlights.

    First was the Antpittas. These are extremely shy birds that skulk around the forest floor and you never see them - only hear them. Imagine my delight when we managed to get a photo of one!



    Then there was the Toucan barbet, a lovely bird that I really wanted to see - and did - sitting in a branch below its nest.



    Third was the gorgeous Quetzel - emerald green and ruby red.



    Fourth and fifth were the cock of the rock and manakins - described by Ally below.

    We also saw an amazing 11 species of woodpeckers (including woodcreepers) and 4 species of my favourite bird in the world, the colourful toucan. And then there was plenty more like this blue green tanager.



    And the dashing little "Mask of Zorro Swallow" Well, Ally's name for it anyway Much more romantic than its latin name: Notiochelidon flavipes




    Ah, needless to say I was in heaven (hence my big smile here, despite being in a very rickety cable car thing, 110 metres above the forest canopy!). I dream of visiting Ecuador - and Mindo - again one day. Julio has promised me Choco Toucan when I do!



    Excerpt from Ally’s dairy

    Our next trip was to Mindo, 2.5 hours Northeast from Quito to see birds. Mindo is one of the best birding spots in the world and G wanted to see the Cock-of the rock bird to add to his life list and goal of 1000 bids seen in the wild.

    On our first day it was very wet but G had a walk and took photos of birds around the village and then we went to a house that had many orchids and sugar feeders. Literally humming around the feeders were many species of hummingbirds.

    To me they sounded like huge bumble bees. In fact, such is my conditioning from childhood that when I heard one I ducked and jumped out they way. Amazing these irrational fears we have!

    The birds were so beautiful and varied not only in size but also in colour. In Mindo alone there are over 40 of the 120 hummingbird species in Ecuador. G was entranced we spent two hours watching them. It was a cloudy day so we did not get to see the really brilliant colours until the next day. It was a real treat when we did see them.

    Cock of the Rocks

    The lady, Julia, at our hostel was a bird guide so we set up for her to take us to see the Cock-of-the-Rock. After getting up at 4:15 am, yawn, driving for an hour, bumpy, walking down a valley, slippery, and past some Americans, very annoying - we arrived at a little leaved enclosure with an awful racket around us. It took us a while to realize that this was the Cock-of-the-Rock dating scene. It made for very entertaining viewing.

    One male would sit on a branch at the top of a bush, fluff out his tale feathers, flap his red wings, leaning forward, open his beak and squawk the most awful abuse at the other male below him getting louder while beating his wings frantically – working himself into a real passion. The male below would then fluff his tale, flap his wings, crane his neck up and reply with a torrent of obscenities that I am sure would make a prison inmate blush. This would go on and on, bush to bush, male to male. You could always tell where the female was as this is where the screamed abuse was loudest. There was shy chap which seemed rather bewildered by all this and would fly between two branches, every so often cocking his head from side to side as if to say that is no way to woe a lady. Needless to say that is who I would have gone for.

    The dating session only lasts half and hour in the morning from 6 am -6:30 am which is not surprising considering the energy that is put into their show.


    The place where we saw the Cock-of-the-Rock is actually a farm. The government are putting a lots of emphasizes on tourism (the school walls are even painted with bird pictures) as a way of encouraging the local population to look after their natural environment. And by doing so they can make money out of ecologically minded tourists for generations. But looking at the shear volumes of litter all over South America the governments have a long struggle ahead of them.


    Dancing Manakins

    That afternoon we went to another bird sanctuary and watched little red manakin birds dance. They were so sweet dipping their heads forward, lifting their tails, moving their wings diagonally up while giving out a whistle. I’ll have to see if this dance works for the G man! Unfortunately the light was too poor for photos.

    Butterflies

    The next day G got up at 5:30 am and I slept. Well, I am on holiday after all which is drawing to close at a gallop. After a wonderful lie in I took myself off to the butterfly farm. They have 25 of the 200 species of butterflies in the area. The lady, Rosie, gave me a guided tour. She showed me the eggs which they tale off the leaves, then the hugs caterpillars that they turn into after 3 months (bigger and ticker than a man finger). I had to get over my gut instinct not too touch them but they were very soft and squidgy. After, they have eaten their full they turn into a pupa which are cleverly disguised as leaves or twigs or drops of sparkly water. I watched them hatching from the pupas and it was a miracle to me that brought tears to my eyes. The whole cycle, so perfect and complex.

    I sat in the enclosure with the many different colour wings going about their business of feeding and mating for the next generation. I also observed that butterflies have the same sense of direction that men have, i.e. no sense!

    I put some watermelon juice on my finger tips and went in search of one to feed. I found one with raggedy wings and it drank the juice greedily. On their legs they have a tiny hook which it attached to my finger and the proboscis probed all over my finger tips sucking up every last bit of sweet juice. I hope I left a very satisfied butterfly for what seemed like its last hours.




    Raw Pizza

    The night before went to a new place for a pizza where they were obviously nervous and very anxious to please. We were the only customers. Our pizza arrived and the base was not cooked all the way through. After deliberating we asked them to cook it some more. We got it back after 5 minutes and it was no better. We ate all the topping but we thought they would be devastated to see all the base left and our Spanish was not really good enough to explain. So G hit on a plan. He wrapped up the dough and filled his fleece pockets. Then we went in search of the village mongrels who were delighted with their tasty treat. I just hope we didn’t end up giving them a tummy ache. The next day I went back to swap books they had in their exchange and they asked me (politely but pointedly) if we had taken any books way with us last night as they had seen what looked like us putting them in our pockets. So we leant a valuable lesson!!

    After a very successful birding trip G´s life list is in the 900´s so not many to go until he reaches his goal.- we are wondering how to celebrate once he reaches it.


    List of new birds seen around Mindo
    • Booted racket-tail
    • white-necked jacobin
    • Purple-throated woodstar
    • Green-crowned woodnymph
    • Black-throated brilliant
    • Rufous-tailed hummingbird
    • Brown violetear
    • Green thorntail
    • Blue-grey tanager
    • blue and white swallow
    • Palm tanager
    • Tricoloured brush-finch
    • Variable seed eater
    • Blackwinged saltator
    • Dusky bush-tanager
    • Lemon-rumped tanager
    • Flame-faced tanager
    • Golden tanager
    • Orange-bellied euphonia
    • White-capped dipper
    • Mountain wren
    • Southern roughwinged swallow
    • Masked tityra
    • Dusky-capped flycatcher
    • Black phoebe
    • Scale-crested pygmy tyrant
    • Ornate flycatcher
    • Bay wren
    • Strongbilled woodcreeper
    • Smoky-brown woodpecker
    • Scarletbacked woodpecker
    • Guayaquil woodpecker
    • Golden-headed quetzal
    • Chestnut-mandibled toucan
    • Crimson-rumped toucanet
    • Masked trogon
    • White-whiskered hermit
    • Ruddy pigeon
    • Whitetipped dove
    • Swallow-tailed kite
    • Velvet purple coronet
    • Plate billed mountain toucan
    • Yellow-breasted antpitta
    • Great antpitta
    • Andean cock of the rock
    • Fawn breasted brilliant
    • Violet-tailed sylph
    • White-bellied woodstar
    • Buff-tailed coronet
    • Sparkling violetear
    • Purple-bibbed white tip
    • Toucan barbet
    • Pale mandibled aracri
    • Slate throated whitestart
    • cinnamon becard
    • Club-winged manakin
    • Three-striped warbler
    • Wedge-billed woodcreeper
    • Spotted woodcreeper
    • Golden-winged manakin
    • Bronze-winged parrot
    • Rusty-margined flycatcher
    • Spotted barbtail (woodcreeper)
    • Scarlet-backed woodpecker
    • yellow-billed elaenia
    • Red-faced spinetail
    • Yellow-bellied seedeater
    • Torrent tyrannulet
    • Black-cheeked woodpecker
    • Social flycatcher
    • Common tody-flycatcher
    • Sickle-winged guan
    • Yellow-throated bush tanager
    • Powerful woodpecker
    • Golden olive woodpecker
    • Buff-fronted foliage gleaner
    • Grey rumped swift
    • Lineated foliage-gleaner
    1 comments
    Labels: , , , , , , , , ,

    12 June 2006

    Galapagos Islands

    Ever since Mr Howard, my school biology teacher, told us about Charles Darwin's expedition to Galapagos in 1835 and how his findings inspired his theories on evolution, I have been fascinated by the island. Seeing footage on David Attenborough wildlife documentaries motivated me all the more to visit.
    So, to say my expectations were sky high when we flew from Quito to Galapagos for a 8 day tour of the islands would be an understatement. Did our trip meet our high expectations? The answer is that it blew them out of the ball park. This was the undoubted highlight of our time in South American. What an amazing way to end off an already fantastic 6 months. 



    The first thing that struck us when we stepped onto the islands was that the animals are incredibly tame. Not just the Iguanas and tortoises that we expected to be slow anyway but lizards, snakes, hawks, herons, finches, albatrosses and seals all tolerated incredibly close approach. It was evident everywhere that the fewness of predators on the island has made shyness unecessary and curiosity an advantage.




    The tameness of the birds in particular was remarkable. We were able to approach, to within a metre, birds sitting on eggs and involved in elaborate courting rituals without effecting their behaviour in the slightest.


    The other amazing thing about Galapagos is the uniqueness of so many of the species. Most of them are found nowhere else in the world. There are 26 unique species of birds alone which of course was very exciting for me. In addition to that, there are other strange and wonderful creatures like marine iguanas and giant tortoises that blow the mind when you see them.

    The Galapagos Islands have never been attached to the mainland, but instead rose from the sea as the tips of huge volcanos. Thus, all life on the islands came from another place. The tortoises, for example, would have come from the mainland on floating vegetation. Once they arrived, the colonists adapted and evolved into the unique species that exist there today.

    Here are my photos of birds, reptiles and mammals I saw, along with some interesting facts we discovered about them:


    TORTOISES

    To think of Galapagos is to think of tortoises. Indeed the very name Galapagos is derived from an old Spanish word referring to their saddle like shape. They are undoubtedly the archipelago's most celebrted animals and it is a pity that their story is a sad one and their population has fallen from 300,000 to 15,000 over the years.

    One reason for this is they were used by 18th century sailors to provide fresh meat for long voyages. In the days before refrigertion, the sailors would put them upside down in the hold where they could survive a year without eating or drinking.

    We saw a number of enormous tortoises on the Island of Santa Cruz, both in captivity in the Darwin Centre and in the highlands. They were beautiful and extremely impressive creatures.



    In the Darwin Centre, we also got to see "Lonesome George". He is the last remaining member of his species and has been all alone since before 1970. When he dies, his species will officially be extinct and there will only be 10 species of Galapagos tortoises left. It could be a long wait to join his ancestors as he is youthful 90 years old and these tortoises can live to over 180. Lonely George is a world famous symbol for conservation and is the subject of several books.




    Two tortoises started "procreating" while we stood by, intrigued. We later discovered they were two males!





    MARINE IGUANAS

    The marine iguana is the only true marine lizard in the world and,along with the giant tortoises, is a quintessential symbol of Galapagos. They are very well adapted to their marine lives. The larger males can dive as deep as 12 metres and stay down for up to 10 minutes. To aid matters, they have special salt glands that allows them to drink sea water.

    The iguanas were extremely tame and allowed us very close. They love to sleep. In fact, they only spend 5% of their day swimming, the rest is spent basking in the sun. Not a bad life. And incidentally, male iguanas have not just one, but two penises!






    LAND IGUANAS

    Land iguanas feed on cactuses and are seemingly immune from the long spikes. They seem to wear a permanent smile and have a rather dim witted countenance. However, once they have warmed up, their sprinting ability will take anyone by suprise.




    SEAL LIONS

    We loved spending time with the sea lions. They loaf around in piles on the beach most of the day and love to cuddle up to each other. The young ones are absolutely adorable with their big eyes and cute whiskers.

    The alpha males, however, were not quite as endearing. Cantankerous and tetchy, they vigorously defend their portion of beach, allowing only females to sunbathe there. Of course, the females have to pay rent by mating with the male when the time comes.

    Often, when we were snorkeling close to a beach, the male would swim by, snorting aggressively to remind us that the beach was his and not to fool around with his females. Needless to say, we respected him!

    The younger seals were extremely playful and curious and would often come very close while we were snorkeling, sometimes even nibbling on our flippers. This was a wonderful experience.








    GALAPAGOS FUR SEALS

    Unlike sea lions, fur seals shun body contact and hide away in lava crevices. They were hard to photograph but I did manage to get a nice shot of this cute pup.




    TURTLES

    Galapagos is one of the few remaining places in the world where turtles are still a common sight and we were able to snorkel with Pacific Green Turtles on several occasions.

    A real highlight was snorkeling with Ally, hand in hand, following a huge turtle. He was completely relaxed to have us there and every so often, would look back at us to make sure we were keeping up, then languidly move his flippers to keep snorkeling. We will remember that experience forever.

    Only 2% of turtle hatchlings survive their first few days of life. They hatch from eggs laid in holes on the beach, then dash for the sea. The survivors roam the oceans for up to 20 years before returning to the exact beach where they were born to breed.

    It is interesting that the sex of turtles and tortoises is determined by the temperature of the hole in which they are incubated. Warmer nests result in females, cooler nests in males. Also interesting is that female turtles are able to capture and store sperm so they can reproduce, even when there are no males around.





    LAVA LIZARDS

    There are 7 species of lava lizards on the islands and we saw several of them. Their colour patterns and behaviour varies from island to island, as you can see in the photos below. They are very territorial and scare off other lizards by doing agressive push ups.





    BOOBIES

    I have decided I love boobies! There are 3 species of them at Galapagos, all with different coloured feet and all adorable. They have forward pointing stereoscopic vision which allows them to pinpoint their prey and also gives them a particularlly comical appearance. The woord booby comes from the Spanish word "bobo" meaning clown. The booby dives at 70 km an hour headfirst into the water to catch fish. Sometimes the water is only a foot deep! Talk about extreme sports.

    Blue footed booby



    Masked booby




    Red footed booby






    FRIGATEBIRDS

    These giant flying machines have the largest wingspan to bodyweight ratio of any bird, making them highly acrobatic flyers. Their favourite trick is to steal food from other birds in mid fleight, hence their nickname "man o' war birds".

    We got to see males doing their mating routine and it was the most extraordinry sight to behold. When ready to breed, the male frigate bird pumps air into his grossly exagerated, bright red throat pouch until it is the size of a party balloon.

    As`soon as a female flies by, he loses control and erupts into fits of rapturous headshaking and vibrating. If the female is suitably impressed, she will alight beside him and, with his wing jealoudly protecting her, the pair bond is sealed.

    As you can see from the photos below, we saw some very impressive red throat pouches.








    ALBATROSS

    The waved albatross is the biggest bird in the Gallapagos with a wingspan of up to 2 metres. We watched in awe as a couple did an elaborate courtship dance in which, facing each other, they went through the motions of "bill circling", "sky pointing", the "shy look", the "drunken swagger", "bill clapping", "mooing" and "gaping." They stay with their mate for life which can be 40 years or more so the courtship rituals are very important to keep the romance alive.

    This was the first close up albtross I had ever seen. Really exciting and the realisation of a life goal.

    Interestingly, waved albatrosses produce a vile-smelling stomach oil that they regurgitate and squirt at enemies. The oil makes an excellent sun tan lotion but wreaks havoc on your cothes and your social life.





    STORM PETRELS

    Believe it or not, the storm petrel is very closely related to the albatross despite being the smallest sea bird in the world - only 15 cms long. The name petrel is named after Peter as in St Peter, after their dainty ability to walk on water. Fluttering like butterflies, they gently patter along the water suface, creating tiny currents which drag food particles towards them.



    In addition to seeing them from our boat, we visited a petrel breeding colony at Genevesa Island. As the photo shows, there were thousands of them flittering about.




    REDBILLED TROPIC BIRDS

    I was thrilled to get a decent photo of a red tropic bird. They are beautiful with their long streamer tails and arial courtship pursuits. But they are notoriouly difficult to photograph due to their love of wheeling and diving and nesting in inaccessible places.




    SWALLOW TAILED GULL

    The swallow tailed gull is the world's only nocturnal oceanic gull. At dusk, they fly out to sea many kilometers in search of squid, their favourite prey, and their eyes are specially adapted for the dark. We often saw them flying alongside our boat for kilometer after kilometer at night from our cabin window. I loved their red eye ring - very photogenic.




    PENGUINS

    The Galapagos penguin occurs further north than any other penguin in the world. It seemed very strange to find penguins at the equator. We were lucky to snorkel with penguins and watch them "flying" underwater, so graceful compared to their waddling on land. It was very hard to keep up with them though. Apparently they can swim at 35 kms an hour underwater, almost faster than we can sprint on land!





    GREAT BLUE HERON

    The largest of the Galapagos herons, sometimes they eat marine Iguana hatchlings.




    YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON

    They are solitary and tend to hunt at night. Their favourite food is sally lightfoot crabs.





    LAVA HERON

    These are "sit and wait" predators and manage to maintain a fabulous sense of alertness for hours and hours.




    AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHER

    Oystercatchers make their living in the intertidal zone, feeding on crustaceans and molluscs.




    GREATER FLAMINGOS

    The same flamingo as we get in Africa, but they are much pinker. In fact, they are the pinkest flamingos in the world due to the pink organisms they eat.




    MOCKINGBIRDS

    Of the 4 species of Mockingbirds, we saw two. They were extremely curious and came hopping down the beach to investigate what we were up to and beg for a sip of water from our water bottles. However we were forbidden to share our water as it then makes them too reliant on people. It sure was hard to say no as they were quite adorable and very persistent.




    FINCHES

    Undoubtedly the most famous endemic land birds in Galapagos are the 13 species of Darwin finches. These birds, with their different shaped bills adapted to different foods and environments, provided Darwin with important clues that allowed him to generate his theory of evolution. Apparently all 13 species originated from one original species from the mainland. They were very challenging to tell apart at times but I am confident that I saw and correctly identified at least 5 finches.




    YELLOW WARBLER

    The yellow warbler is not endemic to the island, enjoying a huge range from Alaska to Peru. It provided a nice dash of colour against the black volcanic rocks.




    FLYCATCHER

    We saw the Galapagos flycatcher, an endemic but rather nondescript bird. Unfortunately we did not see his far more impressive cousin, the brilliant red Vermillion Flycatcher. We hope to see him in the cloud forest during our next stop in Ecudor.




    DOVE

    The Galapagos Dove is common in the arid areas on the main islands. On Genovesa Island, there are no bees which the cactuses normally rely on for pollination. The cactuses have relaxed their defences through evolution (the spines are now soft and hairlike) allowing the doves to pollinate them instead.




    HAWK

    Galapagos hawks are so tame that they will even land on people's heads. It has peculiar mating behaviour. The female mates with up to 4 males and all the males will then help defend the territory, even during non mating season. They also help with the feeding and caring of the young. This bird is probably the rarest non threatened raptor in the world with only 130 pairs on the islands.




    SALLY LIGHTFOOT CRABS

    These brightly coloured crabs eat anything they can get their claws on and play an important role in keeping the shore clean of detritus. Their name is thought to originate from a Carribean dancer and refers to their agility in jumping from rock to rock.




    PAINTED LOCUST

    The emerald green locusts were beautiful, contrasted against the arid vegetation. Once again, my super macro lens came in very handy.



    GALAPAGOS SCENERY

    Below are some views of the scenery across the different islands we visited. We spent most of our time on beaches and sea cliffs close to the island shores, in addition to one trip to the highlands of Santa Cruise where it was too misty to get good photos. To get to the shore from our boat, we used motorised dingies. Many of the landings were "wet", necessitating jumping out of the dingy into the shallow surf. This of course just added to the fun.









    THE EDEN

    Here is a photo of the boat, "The Eden" that transported us from island to island and where we spent our nights. We were spoiled with very comfortable cabins with hot water and 3 amazing meals a day. Much more luxurious than we are normally accustomed to.


    The crew were amazingly friendly and helpful. A great highlight was watching the excitement of the crew when Ecuador won their first game in the world cup football (2 nil against Poland.) Our guide, Raul, was also a tremendous asset and his vast knowledge combined with his sense of humour kept us captivated.

    And our fellow passengers were really great too. Lot of fun and all passionate about travel and nature.



    And of course, I got to do one of my leaps...



    All in all, the experience of a life time.



    OTHER HIGHLIGHTS (for memories sake)
    • Reading Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species" - tough going at times but worthwhile
    • Seeing a yellow bellied sea snake in the sand while swimming. They are highly venomous but it seemed placid enough
    • Snorkeling with turtles, sharks, penguins and rays - just amazing!
    • Seals treating me as a "playmate" while snorkeling
    • A curious seal island coming up to smell my nose and legs on the beach
    • Not getting sea sick during the nightly island crossings (several of our fellow passengers did)
    • Seding post cards from the "pirate's internet"
    • The challenge of trying to identify and photo Darwin finches
    • Walking through a 500 metre underground lava tube (about the size of a London subway), caused by lava flowing towards the sea during an eruption. The outside cooled and solidified while the lava inside continued.to flow, creating tunnels through the earth.
    • Exploring Turtle cove - a beautiful estuary - in a dingy and watching hundreds of blue footed boobies diving at once, white tipped sharks and rays swimming and black tipped reef sharks barrel rolling out of the water like dolphins (this is how they rid themselves of parasites)
    • Snorkeling with playful sea lions - particularly two gorgeous ones who considered me a playmate
    • The excitement of the crew when Ecuador beat Poland 2-0 in their first game in the 2006 World Cup
    • The shower in our cabin - best shower in South America!
    • Seeing 27 new species of birds, including 13 endemics
    • Watching swallow gulls following the wake of our boat for ages from our cabin door


    List of birds seen
    • Blue footed booby
    • yellow warbler
    • Great blue heron
    • Magnificent frigatebird
    • White vented storm petrel
    • Audubon's shearwater
    • Great Frigatebird
    • Swallow-tailed gull
    • Lava gull (*)
    • Small ground finch (*)
    • Noddy tern
    • Galapagos hawk (*)
    • Galapagos mockingbird (*)
    • Hood mockingbird (*)
    • Redbilled tropic bird
    • Yellow-crowned night heron
    • Galapagos flycatcher (*)
    • Waved albatross (*)
    • Masked booby
    • Lava heron (*)
    • Warbler finch (*)
    • Medium ground finch (*)
    • Large ground finch (*)
    • Small tree finch (*)
    • Red footed booby
    • Large cactus finch (*)
    • Galapagos dove (*)
    • Wandering tattler
    (*) Endemic to Galapagos




    EXCERPTS FROM ALLY´S JOURNAL

    The night before we left for Galapagos G´s legs came out in 100s of little mite bites that were so itchy. The next day at the airport we tried to find a pharmacy but no luck so it was with some trepidation that we set off for a whole week voyage with no contact with civilisation.

    Arriving on the boat was very exciting. It was so much bigger than we expected with a super bunk cabin, TV, books and were greeted by a delicious lunch – good sign of things to come.

    Our first afternoon we went to the beach and saw marine iguanas (they were smaller than I thought), flying frigate birds and beautifully coloured crabs. Nothing ran or flew away when we got close which of-course is the unique thing about the Galapagos as they have had such limited contact with humans and very few predators they are curious rather than scared.

    First Day – North Seymor Island
    On Monday morning we went for a walk on North Seymor Island and were just amazed by the show the magnificent frigate birds put up for us. Well it was actually the males puffing out their red chests while the females flew overhead assessing who had the reddest, puffiest chest. I must admit that they all looked the same to me – just as well I am not a frigate bird. We also saw our first blue footed boobie. There was a mom with a chick. They nest on the ground due to their being so few predators and we got within half a meter and mom was quiet happy to preen her feathers while we all took hundreds of pictures.
    ´
    First Day – Santa Fe Island
    That afternoon was snorkelling. Along the rocks we saw sea lions diving down. Two decided that G would make a good playmate and were swimming all around him. That was until the big boss arrived – the huge male. That was the end of playtime. While crossing the bay we saw sting-rays lying at the bottom. But they were just docile with other fish hanging around them.

    Then we saw turtles. One had a shell on its back – like it was hitching a ride. A smaller turtle saw us all and promptly hid himself under a rock and some sand. The G and I spotted another adult. Swimming side by side with G´s hands holding us together we swam above the turtle. He was so relaxed to have us there. Every so often he would look back at us to make sure we were still keeping up and then he would languidly move is flippers to keep swimming. He was just over an arms length away from us so we could see all the details and markings on him. I will remember that moment in time forever. G, me and the green backed turtle like we were the only creatures in the whole universe for just a minute.

    In the evening we went for a walk on the beach amongst the sleeping seals. Some wanted to smell us (the sun tan lotion is delicious) and some barked at us when we got to close. Particularly the pups – they were scared that we were trying to steal their milk. They certainly were not as smelly as the colonies in Cape Town. Around the island we also saw a yellow land iguana who was not pleased to see us – we had disrupted his peaceful life. Growing on the island were holly trees – the sap is a mosquito repellent and on the branches grows a hanging green lichen which was used as a paint pigment. This was one of the original businesses run out of Galapagos, apart from fishing, salt mining and not to be forgotten whaling and piracy.

    That night it was very rough crossing but thank goodness G and I were OK unlike our fellow passengers.

    Second day – Gardner Bay, Espanola Island
    Thinking that it would be very hard to beat yesterday we made our way to our next island. Upon stepping off the boat we were greeted by masked boobies flying off the cliff and reddy/black marine iguanas warming up in the sun. The highlight was definitely the albatrosses. Every since I saw the David Attonbourgh I have wanted to see the courting ritual of albatrosses. These were smaller than the ones from further down south – still the wing span is 2m. I got to see a couple doing their courtship ritual with much beak clacking, head nodding and fancy walking. They mate for life so this ritual has to form a very strong bond. Once the chicks are old enough they fly off and stay at sea until the reach sexual maturity after about 5 years and then they return to their island of birth. The older males – even those who are still attached – take advantage of the younger unattached females, the sneaky devils, when they come back to the island for the first time. As harsh as this sounds there is a purpose. When couples lay there eggs they are easily broken. If they do break they will take over an abandoned egg from an unattached female and raise it as their own. I feel that they are such elegant and beautiful birds.

    After visiting the albatrosses we went to a cliff site were we saw hundreds of reddy/black marine iguanas on the rocks. Even though they are not social they were in such numbers that they had to lie over each other. Whenever one of them moved they all got cranky and tried to bite each other.

    Third day – Punta Cormorant, Floreana Island
    Wednesday morning was flamingo time. Although there weren’t that many they were the most iridescent pink. They are the pinkest flamingos in the world due to the pink shrimp they eat. We heard the sucking sound they make while filtering their food.

    Third Day – Post Office Bay, Floreana Island
    This spot has been in use since 1791. An oak barrel was placed there and ships would post their mail in the barrel and they would take any mail addressed to their destination. Sometimes even personally delivering the mail. The Americans used it as a trap during the Anglo/ American war. As the British came to drop off and collect mail they sunk the ships. Hey managed to sink 12 this way. We posted some cards – we will see how long they take to get there. We also took some for SA to post in June.

    Fourth day – Santa Cruz Island
    Santa Cruz has the biggest port on the Galapagos Islands so we spent a while looking around the shops – our brush with civilisation. Our visit to the Darwin centre was really interesting. There were originally 14 races of tortoises on the islands but sadly now there are only 11. Ships used to stop at the islands and either take the tortoises back to the ships for fresh meat (they can last for 12 months without food or water). So cruel. Or they used to slaughter them for oil – leaving their shells littering the islands. The photographs were very sobering.

    They are slowly breeding a whole new generation of tortoises to re-introduce back into the right islands. They are having great success apart from lonely George. He is the last of his race left and he cannot seem to mate with his closest genetic females. However, even if they could get him to mate they would not have a pure breed so I am not sure what they will do in the long term. He has another 100 years to live so who knows what advances will be made in tortoise fertility. When he goes there will only be 10 races left.

    An interesting fact about female tortoises is that they can store the sperm from a male for 2/3 years. Thus ensuring that during lean times they are still able to reproduce despite no males being around.

    In one pen they had 6 giant male tortoises that used to be pets all across the world. In an effort to find Lonely George a mate they asked people worldwide if they had pets from Galapagos. They had a great response but sadly no fellow female. But they did get these 6 brutes. They put a couple of females in for company but they nearly killed them with their enthusiasm so now they are left to their own devises. It was great to be in with them and they were so happy and relaxed with us there. I felt that on the whole they looked like gentle souls with wise age old expressions in their eyes.

    Later that day we went to a farm where they have a number of tortoises that live in the area. They were really scared and spent the whole time in their shells blowing air through their noses trying to ward us off.

    The Galapagos islands are essentially volcanic islands formed many millions of years ago. They are still forming today. Sometimes growing sometimes disappearing into the ocean. Many islands still have live volcanoes. On Santa Cruz we went to visit a lava tube. This was formed when molten lava was flowing down towards the sea and the outer part solidified while the inside continued to flow. This was slowing buried underground over the years. We climbed down into the tube by stairs and it was wide and high when we started off and over the 0.5km it got narrower. At some points you could see where two lave tubes had joined (one on top of the other) to create and even bigger tube. I never knew such things existed and I found it fasinating.

    Fifth Day – Egas Port, Santiago Island
    Here we spent a wonderful two hours walking along the rocks and looking in all the pools. I felt like I was reliving a day of my youth when we used to go to the rocky pools around Boulders. In the pools there were miniature anenomies, hermit crabs, fish and mussels. Crabs were scattered across the rocks eating and the marine iguana were bobbing in the water after eating algae off the rocks. Turtles were coming up for air and the fur seal pups were sleeping the morning away. A highlight was seeing a very deep pool with natural rock bridges and a turtle swimming lazily around the pool and under the bridges. Back at the beach we went for a snorkel where we saw a dead shark (G got to swim with a live one) and seals playing, turtles eating and many colourful fish.

    That afternoon we headed off to Bartholomew Island (the movie Master and Commander was filmed around here). I spent time sun tanning and G went swimming and the penguins decided to join in. Then we climbed up the hill to look at the view. It was splendid. On the main land you could see lava flows from 1840 (to me they looked like lava glaciers but to no one else). On the islands you could see the smaller volcanic chutes that had come up to let out hot lava and steam. The lava flows ended in the sea creating wonderful nesting sites for the penguins as they would uses the hollow bit inside.

    Getting back to the boat we found that Ecuador had won their first match of the 2006 soccer world cup being held in Germany. They won 2/0 against Poland and there was much celebration including jumping off the top of the boat into the water – much to the amusement of the crew.

    I have to report that G´s legs are fine – we actually shaved them (very hard work as he is very hairy and I hate to think what the cleaner of our bathroom thought) but we think this killed them thankfully. Otherwise he would have scratched himself to death they were so itchy.

    Sixth Day – Prince Phillips Steps, Genovesa Island
    On our last full day we arrived at the island, which is the furthest north that tourists are allowed to go. We chose our boat Eden because it came here and we wanted to see the red-footed boobies, which are only to be found on this island.

    We stared off in the dingy floating at the bottom of the cliffs so we could see more gulls with red around there eyes, crabs and very unsocial fur seals who bark at each. The frigate birds were hassling other birds to get their food – they are the thieves of the islands. Landing ashore we saw a red-footed boobie on the first tree. It was almost like he had been planted there as the welcoming committee and to give us a real close up view. Well he needn’t have bothered as all his brethren were spread along the path giving us the most fantastic showing.

    They have a regressive albino gene so every so often we would see a white red-footed boobie as opposed to the normal brown coat. There were also masked boobies but no blue feet. The masked boobies nest on the ground whereas the red-footed nest in trees – they alone have feet that are able to grasp branches. I loved the red-footed most of all with their pink and blue beaks, red feet and albino white feathers.

    On one set of cliff edges (lava edges from 300 years ago) there were hundred of thousands of storm petrels flying around. They have a very jerky flight as they are trying to avoid the owls who are waiting close to their burrows to pounce on them. Along the path we saw many owl pellets showing that they certainly catch many.

    Also on the island were mockingbirds. On Espanola island they were smart and knew that tourists carry water and whenever we sat down a few would congregate around our water bottles and some would even try to stick their beaks in but were stopped by the top. We were not allowed to give them any, as it would be disastrous for them to rely on tourists for water.

    We had another snorkel along the cliffs. The waves would pound against the sides and G got caught up in a big one and got washed up but no injury. Unlike another girl from another boat who was really badly cut by the barnacles and needed stitches.

    That afternoon we were on Darwin Beach were we saw more frigate birds trying to attract a mate and very relaxed seals including the cutest baby seal waiting for its mom.

    They also had cactus plants whose spikes were not hard at all as they want to encourage the cactus finch to spread their seed. So it was like a furry cactus. Very strange.

    Seventh Day – Black Turtle Cove
    Here we saw many blue-footed boobies just waking up on the rocks at the edge of the water. Then, upon a signal they all flew off at once in search of food. It was magnificent to have them all flying around us.

    In the mangrove swamp the water is very shallow and clear. So it is the perfect place to see white tipped sharks (from 3 foot to smaller) and whole schools of golden rays. There were also turtles and eagle rays. Black tipped sharks were jumping high out of the water and doing barrel rolls as a way of getting rid of parasites.

    I have to say we had a splendid boatload of people. There were Sara and Isaac who have just finished 2.5 years studying seals and albatrosses in the Antarctic. Dave and Shana from Queensland, Di and Karin – mom and daughter who knew a lot about marine biology, Ev who studied neurons and is working on a way to fix the optic nerve. Shaniel and Monique – 1 doctor and doctor turned management consultant. The Italian couple on their honeymoon and Natalie and Colin from Perth who we will hopefully see when we are there.

    Our boat, Eden, was really great and I thought quiet luxurious. We had bunks and when the door was open we could watch the sun catching the waves. Also at night we had gulls flying next to our boat hunting squid. I would fall asleep with it flying and wake up and it would still be there. The boat had one of the best showers we have had in SA and there is nothing like a hot powerful shower after and hour snorkelling – divine. The food was outstanding with 3-course dinner and always dessert at lunch. G was in heaven.

    It was very hard saying goodbye to the islands and people but the memories will stay in our heats and minds. At the airport we saw a big land iguana crossing the runway near a plane and that seemed so fitting. Here, the animals rule!!

    12 comments
    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Clicky