Wanderlust Travel Magazine (UK)
The knowledge
Having won Top Conservation Guide at the Wanderlust World Guide Awards, Pablo Valladares shares what he’s learned from leading wildlife tours around the Galápagos Islands for Galakiwi
World Guide Award recipient Pablo Valladares talks tales from the road
I was seven when I first heard of the Galápagos.
I was given some wildlife pictures, which came with a map of the Galápagos. My father pointed to it and told me that these islands belonged to my home country of Ecuador. I just couldn’t believe it.
My father, grandfather and his father were all in the armed forces.
I wanted to follow them, but my dad sat me down and said: “You like freedom; you won’t find that in the navy.” I’d always loved nature, and would escape from class to hunt for grasshoppers. After this talk, I knew conservation would be my life.
Myy My j job is to make ppeoplep people see how special the islands are.
All A the species we have here are because of the environment and how they adapted to it. Initially people are just in awe, but after a week they begin to see why the species are the way they are. I have seen many people cry tears in the last days of a trip.
You should approach the islands like an opportunity.
This T is one of the last places l on earth th where h much of the wildlife will not pay much attention to you, and you have a chance to see what it, and maybe everywhere else in the world, was like before humans arrived.
The rarest creatures on the planet
live here. The mangrove finch is among the world’s most endangered birds; there are fewer than 80 here, living just in the western Galápagos.
I have to keep on top of all the new
findings. Books and talking to people helps, but the park is the main authority and anyone who does research here will leave a report, which is always a good source of information. Nature is constantly teaching you. Many of the things that I’ve seen here aren’t in any book. Just this morning I saw a Sally Lightfoot crab climbing onto the lava rocks carrying a baby octopus. As it got to the highest point, a young marine iguana came running along and stole the octopus from the crab. Then a big male iguana chased away the younger one and took its prize.
I still look forward to any sighting of a Galápagos hawk. It has an interesting life. Females will take multiple males as partners, and they all help take care of the nest and the chicks.
People are always surprised by the vampire finch.
These T birds evolved on an island with almost no rain; to survive, they nip at the backs of booby birds to make them bleed, then drink the blood. Another thing that amazes visitors is that iguanas can ‘shrink’ up to 20% by absorbing their bones, fat and muscle according to conditions. It was only discovered recently. There’s nowhere quite like Isabela. It’s the largest of the Galápagos Islands, spawned from the eruptions of five volcanoes. It’s also the only place you can find five different species of tortoise as well as flightless cormorants. Best of all, just 1% of its surface is occupied by humans.