Galápagos Islands Holidays

Where evolution walks beside you

The Galápagos sit 1,000 km off the Ecuadorian coast, isolated long enough that the wildlife evolved with no land predators, and therefore no fear of humans. In 1835 Charles Darwin spent five weeks here observing finches, tortoises and iguanas, the field notes that became On the Origin of Species. UNESCO declared the archipelago a World Heritage Site in 1978, and 97% of the land is now national park.

The headline species deliver on the brochure. Giant tortoises, some 400kg, some past 100 years old, graze the highland meadows of Santa Cruz. Marine iguanas, the world's only sea-going lizards, drape over black lava on the coastline between dives to graze algae. Sea lion colonies lounge on the jetties of Puerto Ayora; blue-footed boobies perform their courtship dance on the Bartolomé cliffs; and Galápagos penguins, the only penguins on Earth found north of the equator, dart through the snorkel channels.

For UK travellers, the practical magic is the zero distance. Wildlife encounters here aren't a long-lens, wait-quietly-in-a-hide affair, sea lions waddle past your feet on the beach, marine iguanas sneeze salt at arm's reach, and snorkellers regularly drift among sea turtles, hammerheads, and reef sharks within the first hour of any guided swim. Bring a polarising filter and reef-safe sunscreen; the rest is laid on.

The currents beneath

The water round the Galápagos is as rich as the land. Three ocean currents meet here, the cold Humboldt from the south, the warm Panama from the north and the deep Cromwell from the west, and the upwelling they create feeds far more marine life than the tropics usually manage.

Whale sharks pass the northern islands from June to November, mostly around Darwin and Wolf, two of the best-known dive sites anywhere. Manta rays visit the cleaning stations, sea turtles graze the seagrass, and at Gordon Rocks off Santa Cruz experienced divers go for the hammerhead schools. You do not have to dive: snorkelling from the panga puts you in the water with sea lions and turtles on most itineraries.