Travel can be beautifully unpredictable. There are some holidays you never think will become a reality. The otherworldly locales and distant destinations you see in National Geographic magazine or on television documentaries never seem like real places that you might actually visit one day. They are landscapes and dream settings reserved for explorers, scientists, wildlife photographers and oceanographers. Names like Ferdinand Magellan and Jacques Cousteau come to mind. However, one evening you watch a documentary on the volcanoes and giant tortoises in the Galapagos Islands. You are inspired and enthralled with the natural beauty, and the next day, out of curiosity, you begin to research what it would take to get there. Two months later, you are on the Eclipse Cruise in the Galapagos Islands, taking a holiday that until now had only existed in your dreams.
Photo by: Spencer T.
Three Days in the Middle of the World
Your Galapagos journey began with a three-night stay in Quito, Ecuador. Filled with stunning and eye-popping architecture, this ancient colonial city is a UNESCO World Heritage site. However, while you visited highlights like Independence Plaza, the Municipal Building and the Archbishop’s Palace, you could not stop thinking about surreal volcanic landscapes, giant tortoises and swallow-tailed gulls. You spent your evenings at the Hilton Colon studying field guides and bird books, familiarizing yourself with the flora, fauna and wildlife on the Enchanted Isles. On your last day in Quito, you visited the Equatorial Monument. This monument marks the exact Middle of the World. You liked this statistic so much that all your family and friends got a postcard from the Middle of the World gift shop.
Photo by: Spencer T.
The Eclipse Cruise
The 6-day tour through the Galapagos Islands took you through some of the most beautiful natural settings in the world. There were professional naturalists on board the Eclipse Cruise to give guided shore excursions. Every evening there was a short briefing on what type of expedition was going to be held on the following day, and once again you couldn’t help but think about ancient explorers. From South Plaza and San Christobal Island to Floreana and Isabela Island, the Eclipse tour stopped to explore them all.
You began your Galapagos tour with a passing interest in birding, but you are returning to England with a passion for herons, Nazca boobies, shore birds and frigates. However, it was not only birds that you saw on your Enchanted Isle tour. There were marine iguanas, the Chatham Lava Lizard, the Devils Crown, which is a sunken volcano crater, lava tubes and picturesque beaches.
Flying back to England, you begin to wonder: when can I next take a holiday to the Galapagos? Well, Bales Worldwide offer a number of exclusive escorted tours to this area. Click here to check them out!
SPONSORED POST
