Located 2 hours away by plane from Continental Ecuador, this archipelago is one of the world’s most significant natural areas, these islands inspired the British naturalist Charles Darwin in his theory of Evolution which end up in the publication of the famous book “The Origin of Species”, in 1959 they were declare a National Park by Ecuador government and by 1979 they were declared a “World Cultural Heritage Site” UNESCO.
Officially discovered in 1535, besides being an incredible living laboratory, the islands are surprisal rich in the history of buccaneers, pirates, militias, convicts, hunters, and scientists.
The volcanic archipelago “one of the world’s most active volcanic regions on earth” consists of 13 large islands, 6 smaller and more of forty islets. The unusual ecology of fauna and flora found in the islands is the result of its unique geographic location, under the tropical sun of the equator, and bathed by the cold waters of Humboldt and Cronwell’s currents.
As having a volcanic origin, separate from the continent, the only way to colonize the islands was by sea or by air, reason why the islands show cast large colonies of reptiles and birds as well as more ferns, grasses, and composites than flowery plants. While reptiles, sea lions, sea turtles, giant turtles, and penguins get the advantage of the favorable currents to get there, most of the plants that arrived in the islands were transported by the wind and by birds.
All these species were obligated to adapt to a dramatic and wild ecology, and the result is a marvelous life exposition of many degrees of evolutionary changes; at the “Enchanted Islands” either you adapt, or you die, and guess what? They adapt to become the world-leading destination for nature lovers.
Mammals
Sea Birds
Shorebirds
Land Birds
Reptiles
Darwin’s Finches