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OUT OF THIS WORLD!

Creatures great and small make the Galapagos Islands like nowhere else on Earth, says Mary Lussiana

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NoTHING could be less inviting than the first appearance,’ was how Charles Darwin described the Galapagos when he landed there in 1835. Luckily, y, this was not a sentiment we shared. It had taken three flights, ts, two taxis, one bus and two boat rides to get there.

For us, the name that earlyrly buccaneers had given this archihipel­ago — the Enchanted Isless — was more fitting.

For on that final boat ride, when we climbed over sea lions slumbering on the harbour, watched frigate birds soar overhead, their inflatable red throat pouches visible against jet black plumage, dodged pelicans and marvelledd at the blue-footed boobiess propelling themselves fast and nd furiously into the waters for theirheir kill, the long journey began to melt into the background.

And there it stayed, for the nature was all-pervading, eververpre­sent. As we walked along the path to the Finch Bay Hotel, we were entranced by marine iguanas basking on lava rocks and brilliantl­y orange, Sally Lightfoot crabs dancing around on tiptoes.

In and out of the vivid yellow flowered cotton trees flew clusters of finches, warblers and the mockingbir­ds — from which Darwin began to form his theory of evolution, by noticing that they differed from island to island.

That’s the thing about the Galapagos: it catches you unawares, the sheer volume of creatures, big and small, that crawl, fly, swim and stroll around you.

I boarded our first minibus excursion, asking the guide as I did so, ‘Have you any spare binoculars?’ She paused just long enough for me to realise that it was a stupid question, before answering: ‘In the Galapagos, it’s a matter of not tripping over the animals, rather than searching for them.’ She was right.

At one island, we circumnavi­gated land iguanas — their yellow leathery skin and lips like Rowntree’s lemon fruit gums — as they sat among red scrub bushes and vast golden cacti that stud the desolate volcanic landscape that’s like a science fiction film.

Is it any wonder these creatures b behave as though they own t the land, seas and skies when 9 97 per cent of the islands are designated national park and just 3 per cent is for the far o outnumbere­d humans? Residents only have the r right to own a car if they can p prove that they need it for fa farming— and then they have to pay $35,000 (£25,000) for the perm permit, plus the huge cost of buyin buying and importing a car from mainl mainland Ecuador.

Suc Such strictures leave the roads free f for giant tortoises. In today’s worl world of globalisat­ion, the Galapagos Islands buck the trend. And what a treat that is.

Base yourself in the central island of Santa Cruz, at Finch Bay, the only hotel with a beachside location, which is cosy rather than sophistica­ted, but whose rooms have just been given a makeover by Ecuador’s leading designer, Julio Vinueza.

It’s a hop across to the harbour and main town of Puerto Ayora. Here, the Charles Darwin Research Centre, recent home of late Lonesome George, the giant tortoise who lived to more than 100, is worth a visit for its collection of different giant tortoises — some of which, with their saddlelike carapaces — are responsibl­e for the name of the islands: Galapagos means saddle in Spanish.

Then head to the highlands to the recently opened, luxurious Pikaia Lodge, on the rim of an extinct volcano crater. Its 14 rooms offer views from their oversized windows through the seven microclima­tes down to the sea, food with finesse and a comfortabl­e boat for expedition­s.

For the tiny and utterly adorable Galapagos penguins, you need to go to Bartholome­w Island; for colonies of blue- footed boobies ( right), to North Seymour Island; and for land iguanas to Santiago Island (marine iguanas can be found on much of the coastline).

You can dive or snorkel near many islands, entering a world filled with chocolate chip sea stars, pencil-spiked sea urchins, blue- chin parrotfish and streamer hogfish. We saw the endangered hawksbill turtle and a Pacific green one, passed shoals of indigo blue king angelfish with yellow lips and tails, the Guinea fowl puffer, with its white dots on black, and a penguin flashing by like a bullet. Best of all, we frolicked with sea lions. Dive and twist and they mimic you, returning to the surface, whiskers glistening, with a look in their eyes that says ‘anything you can do, we can do better’. Thrilling.

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 ??  ?? StarSta attraction­s: It’s easy to spot marine iguanas, hawksbill turtles and blue-footed boobies (below)
StarSta attraction­s: It’s easy to spot marine iguanas, hawksbill turtles and blue-footed boobies (below)

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