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Trip details | Dates & prices | Itinerary | Galapagos | Ecuador | Peru |
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| Wildlife, Marine Life & Volcanoes of Southern Galapagos | ||
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Giant tortoises, manta rays, volcanoes, sealions and penguins - these fully guided hotel based 4, 5 & 6 day trips feature some of the best of the Galapagos islands' wildlife, marine life, and scenery. These trips are particularly good for topping up species and areas you may not have come across on a boat based or diving trip. For those with only a short time to spare, they are also highly rewarding trips in their own right. Southern Isabela, the Sierra Negra Volcano and the islets of Las Tintoreras are the common factor in all of these trips. With an extra day we can take you to one of the best marine life sites in all of the Galapagos; whilst two of our longer trips incorporate some of the best that San Cristobal has to offer, along with its small offshore islands of Los Lobos and Kicker Rock.
These trips provide some excellent opportunities to see land based wildlife and birdlife including giant tortioises, flamingos, yellow legs, Darwin's finches, blue footed and Nazca boobies and more. If you trek beyond the crater rim of the Sierra Negra Volcano then there is a reasonable chance you may see a Galapagos Hawk, preying on smaller birds. We are also seeing a local sub species of barn owl at the moment, where it roosts in the hollow of a tree. We visit the most important breeding centre for giant tortoises on this trip. With the invasion of fire ants onto many of the islands, the breeding centre is essential for helping many young tortoises develop ready for introduction into the wild. We often find these reintroduced tortoises in parts of southern Isabela, close to a raised viewpoint and the Wall of Tears built by convicts when the island housed a penal colony. Of marine life, the snorkelling off these islands and islets can be fantastic and difficult to match anywhere in the world. Once of the most inspiring experiences in the Galapagos is to snorkel with sealions. It is the younger sealions which can be the most playful, darting around you at incredible speeds, tugging at your fins and even racing up to your mask to blow bubbles. Whilst larger sealions can look formidable underwater, they tend to swim more slowly and keep a little more distance. It is difficult enough to find locations on earth where you can snorkel with sharks, but on these trips we have been with as many as 100 Galapagos sharks, joined by a small school of hammerheads, Pacific green turtles and eagle rays! White tip sharks and large manta rays are also often on the cards, as well as sting rays, parrotfish, huge schools of fish and marble stingrays. Visibility can vary considerably day by day, so do be aware that luck can vary considerably. Coastal walking and snorkelling can provide some wonderful encounters with marine iguanas, both swimming and on land spitting out salt through glands on their noses. Galapagos penguins are usually seen as well as hundreds bright orange crabs. At low tide, there are often chances to swim very close indeed to Pacific Green Turtles, and observe white tip sharks basking in knee deep water in lava tubes at Las Tintoreras. Of volcanic scenery, southern Isabela is home to volcanic caldera second only in scale to Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater. Volcan Sierra Negra is 6 miles (10 km) across. To reach the closest point of the crater edge involves an overland drive by 4WD and then a between 45 mins to 1 ½ hour hill walk. On a dry sunny day this can be relatively easy. When cloud comes in and there is rain, the going can be very difficult. The summit can often be seen from the southern coast. On days when cloud obscures a view, you will often trek above this layer for clear views across the crater. When you get there the scale is difficult to absorb, with the potential for outstanding views to Alcedo Volcano and to the southern coast. If the crater edge is your goal then we can fit another location or two into your day. If you want to trek further then Cerro Chico is wonderful target, involving a walk along a portion of the crater edge and then through ever decreasing vegetation to where multicoloured rocks and dry lava flows mark the area where Sierra Negra erupted in 2005. Just beneath the surface, the rocks can be very hot. Views from this area extend far north to the enourmous Elizabeth Bay and Fernandina Island. There are many more scenic, wildlife and marine life highlights to describe, so contact us to discuss further. In terms of activities, snorkelling is important to enjoy these trips to the full. So is some amount of walking, but this needn't be particularly strenuous and in some location a slow and detailed examination of the abundant wildlife and marine life is called for. For those keen on some adventurous activity, a trek to Cerro Chico is long and can be hot; mountain biking is an ideal way to explore some of the forest and southern coast; and sea kayaking is incorporated into our monthly 6 day small group programmes. Photographic, wildlife and underwater video opportunities are wonderful. A housing to a camera or video is strongly recommended. Photographs kindly provided by Ralph Pannell |
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