To discover the Galápagos Islands means to discover the nature in its purer pristine state. They motivated to the young English naturalist Charles Darwin, who visited the islands in 1835, to write their famous book “the Origin of the Species” and the world has not been the same since then.
Located to 1,000 km of the coast of Ecuador, this mysterious and fascinating archipelago is compound of 13 great islands, six small ones and more than 40 small barren islands. All the archipelago has a total extension of 8,010 km ".
A great part of the archipelago is to the south of the Equatorial Line, where several sea currents converge. To sum up, the Galápagos is the fusion of all the elements necessary to create a zoological, botanical and geologic wonder at the same time.
The islands emerged from the Pacific Ocean makes five million years as a result of submarine volcanic eruptions. They are the lava formation and the volcanic rock what gives to the tourist the impression to be “in another world” when visits the Galápagos.
The process of evolution, the climate, the sea currents and a relative deficiency of predatory enemies - including the Man they did of this archipelago one of the rarest and important places of our planet. Following different “ways” from the continent to the islands, animal and plants they colonized the original lava beds that do thousands of years formed the Galápagos.
The organisms that survived the passage evolved until forming unique species that are not more than in this place. All the reptiles of the Galápagos, half of the species of birds, 32% of the plants and 25% of the fish, as well as a good number of invertebrates, is exclusively in the archipelago.
The terrestrial and marine environment of the islands offers a variety of singular landscapes that tourists generations of and scientist have worked to many. Marine and terrestrial giant turtles, iguanas and lava small lizards, conform the never well-known family of reptiles more spectacular.
The birds are represented by more than 13 species different from pinzones, small cormorants, penguins, hawks, sparrows, albatrosses, flamenco and stupid, to name only some. Between the mammals are the seals and the dolphins.
UNESCO declared to the Galápagos Islands Natural Patrimony of the Humanity.