Headline, April24, 2013

'''GALAPAG​OS ISLANDS: 

MOTHER NATURES GIANT ZOO'''

The Galapagos Islands are a group of volcanic Islands in as remote a part of the world as you can imagine. Straddling the equator, 1,000 Km due west off the coast of Ecuador, deep in the Pacific Ocean.

Charles Darwin went to the Galapagos Islands and came back with a world changing theory, But when a visual artist and amateur naturalist took up residence this is how he described the wonders:

''The Galapagos experience started right away. We were surrounded by more exotic wildlife than I'd ever seen in one place. Sea lions lazed on the benches, bright red and orange Sally lightfoot crabs scuttled about, while boobies -gannet like birds, brown noddy terns and lava gulls flew overhead.

Espanola Island, a favorite one, we entered  waved albatross territory. These huge birds, with incredibly heavy bodies and 8ft wingspans, use the cliff and updrafts to take off. Either side of the narrow path, albatross couples continue dancing their rituals. I struggle to relate to Darwin's revelations on these Islands.

 The whole place was like a giant petting zoo, each island another cage without bars, a walk through safari where tame birds and animals had been placed in strange combinations by some overreaching hand,  -an eccentric billionaire, perhaps even God.

The Galapagos are a place of wonder and contradictions, a place where I realized a childhood dream, walked in the footsteps of a remarkable man, experienced some of what inspired his ideas and came away with some of my own.

 As an alien species, I saw humanity in a different light. Not the end point of a evolutionary process that represents progress, but the product of a chance set of circumstances.

If progress is to be measured by our contribution to the earth, you could argue that we have evolved backwards from single-cell organisms. Even within a relatively small area like the Galapagos, the most pristine archipelago in the world, we are struggling to conserve the natural ecosystems against the needs of an increasing population.

What hope has the rest of the world, then??!!''

With respectful dedication to Nobel Laureate, former Vice President Al Gore for distinguished and devouted work in serving  Mother Earth.

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voicelesss