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More on the Galapagos, I hear you cry?
The human history of the islands is pretty sad. Their first recorded discovery was in 1535 by a Spanish monk, whoose expedition got caught in the currents I outlined before. They were nearly starving and had no water, when they reached land. At the time, the monk was on his way back to Spain to report to the King on how the conquests were progressing! After the discovery, the islands were used by whalers, traders and pirates. The resources of the islands were used and welcomed by the sailors.
Land tortoises stand up to my waist and weigh 250kg. The sailors lifted live tortoises into the holds of their ships and used them as fresh meat on their journeys. There are records that show over 100 000 were taken by the North Americans before 1959. What of the the ones not recorded?
This has led to some of the tortoises becoming extinct on some of the islands. - Remember, the wildlife on each island is different, even if only subtly. The Charles Darwin Centre are now conducting a breeding programme to re establish them. On Pinzon - a small uninhabited island, there was only 1 land tortoise left by the time the scientists arrived. Solitaire or Lonesome George. He is the last of his speices. Mating at 150 years is not uncommon (they can live to 200 years), but so far George has shown no interest in the beautiful females from the other islands.
The land tortoise is just one sad example of the influence of man. Ecuador claimed the islands in 1832. There were attempts to colonise them, but 3 attempts failed. They tried to establish a penal colony, but the rulers were often inexperienced and ruled ruthlessly, leading to revolts. The penal colony wasn´t closed down until 1959 when the Galapagos was recognised in law as the paradise that it is. In the mean time, colonialisation had resulted in the introduction of creatures from the main land. These competed with and attacked the native creatures.
Rats, cats, dogs, goats and even the raspberry caused problems with their invasive nature. Iguanas were easy food for the predators, and their numbers plummeted. Some birds had lost the ability to fly - because they did not need to. Now they were killed by the dogs. rats and cats. Raspberries spread quickly, engulfing native plants. Creatures dependent on the native plants were now desperate, and often starved to extinction.
Tourists seem to be the main threat today. Well, us, and global warming. 30 years ago 10 000 people visited the islands in a year. Now there are 120 000 visitors annually. There used to be one supply ship a month, now there is one a week. Currently there are 5 flights from the main land. There used to be one a week, always on a Saturday. We are putting a lot of pressure on the area.
To reduce the impact and restrict numbers, the tourist boats need a permit to visit each site, and schedules are tightly controlled. It is prohibitively expensive to sail your own boat in the area due to taxes, so the very rich have to sail to Santa Cruz, moor their own boat and then take a commercail tour. The officail boats only visit a small number of sites. We saw a very tiny fraction of the islands. That should mean that in many places nature is only disturbed by the scientists.
But still, pollution from the boat engines, the feet plodding around the marked circuits and the plastic waste which careless tourists allow to blow over the rail. All is a worry, and the people are contributing to the destruction of the very things they´ve come to admire.
The National Parks have a very difficult job, and a fine line to tread. Tourism is essential to the economy, of the islands and of Ecuador, but at the expense of conservation?
We left having had a wonderful experience, but with the real hope that the correct decisions can be made to ensure these creatures and this environment can still be enjoyed by many generations to come.
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