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Unleash Your Inner Attenborough in Galapagos

Andreina Cordani crouches down in a safari suit and peers at an iguana.

cc. Flickr.com / alh1
cc. Flickr.com / alh1

A gaggle of pasty-legged tourists stood on the dock, clinging protectively to their luggage and waiting impatiently for their ride to Puerto Ayora, where each of us was to join our boat and start our tour. They were tired, they were grumpy, they were not happy with South American ideas of punctuality. And then the pelican appeared – swooping overhead, it changed angle in mid-air and plunged into a spectacular dive, slicing the water effortlessly before bobbing up to the surface, its beak swollen with fish.

“Oooh,” the tourists said. Our visit to the Galapagos Islands had begun.

Because unlike pretty much anywhere else on earth, you don’t have to make any actual effort to see nature. It’s just there. Teeming, diving, swimming or just sunning itself on the beach. That Darwin, he had it easy.

Travel to the Galapagos is a big decision to make. Visitors are limited, and boats are only licensed to visit certain islands on each trip (which meant, through the luck of the draw, I never got to see any giant tortoises in the wild) But over the past few years, tourist traffic has increased to more than 180,000 a year, compared to a resident population of around 40,000. Boats bring pollution, and some boats bring more than others, so research your tour company carefully.

But if you do, like the pelican, taken the plunge, there are some incredible sights to see. Those marine iguanas David Attenborough has been banging on about for years are eerily prehistoric-looking in the flesh. And if you like cute, you’ll fill whole memory cards taking photos of baby sea lions and penguins. Pack a snorkel, hire a wetsuit in Puerto Ayora (the water is really cold) and remember to swim /away/ from the sharks (I got so carried away with my waterproof camera, I forgot).

This is not a place to come if you like luxury. Only five of the islands are inhabited and I’ve never been further from a shop in my life. But when your boat is anchored just off an uninhabited island after sundown and the captain turns off the deck lights, just look up. There’s /way/ more than five stars out there.

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