Archive for May 6th, 2008
On Location: Galápagos Up Close
We had a wonderful trip to the Galápagos… I am still dreaming of the many places we saw. Spending time with Jack (Grove) and Pauli in this rarified environment was such a treat, and being with Greg Estes, our veteran naturalist guide, in his own territory really added to the experience. The most amazing aspect of being on these islands is that there is a total absence of fear. There are no weapons and no predators. We went ashore one morning on the pristine island of Genovesa, and basically just slowly moved around at the mouth of a tidal basin that ended in mangroves, where we observed the birds—mostly red-foot boobies, their fledglings, some Galápagos doves, and a lava heron or two. It was probably one of the most peaceful moments of the trip. I was reminded of that when we got back to the mainland and I spotted a bird I wanted to observe more closely. As I moved closer, of course it flew away. I had forgotten I was no longer in paradise, where you can walk between and around nesting albatross and lovemaking frigatebirds and nobody seems to notice you are big and somewhat out of place. M. & H. Smit
