Galápagos ...

The Trip of a Lifetime

from GALAPAGOS TRAVEL

Land Iguana (Isabela Island)

Conservation

After visiting the Galapagos Islands, most people take with them very special feelings and memories of this magical location. There are some of us who want to go one step further - they want to give something back to these wonderful islands.

Scholarship Program

Wanting to give back was why we initiated the GALAPAGOS TRAVEL Scholarship Program in 1994, a joint venture with the Galápagos Conservancy. The Galápagos Conservancy and the Charles Darwin Research Station are vital partners with the Galápagos National Park, yet the station is woefully under funded; their annual budget is under $5 million, and they have 100 employees, a visitor center, tortoises to raise and care for, and baseline research to conduct. Under the terms of our program, GALAPAGOS TRAVEL funds Ecuadorian undergraduate students to conduct 18-month - 2-year research programs in the Galápagos, the results of which is a senior thesis.

Flightless cormorants in courtship (Fernandina Island)

To date, ten students have completed their projects on a variety of herpetology and ornithology subjects; from marine iguanas, to giant tortoises, land iguanas to Lava Gulls and mangrove finches. Budding oceanographer Angela Kuhn, recently completed her research on Sea Temperatures as they relate to Rocky Bottom Sub-tidal Communities and she has just finished writing up her results.

Our groups often have a chance to meet these students and learn about their projects first hand while visiting the Galápagos. Our latest graduate student, Jennifer Suarez, will be studying the Flora and Fauna of the Mangrove Ecosystems on three different islands in Galápagos; Santa Cruz, San Cristobal & Isabela. Jennifer is a native Galápageño and volunteer with the Charles Darwin Research Station and looks forward to her upcoming studies, as well as the chance to meet our groups.

Diógenes Aguirre, our fifth graduate student, completed his research on the "Foraging behavior, population status and distribution of the Lava Gull on Santa Cruz Island." Diógenes has this to say about his experiences:

"This letter is to thank Galápagos Travel, and your passengers, for your tremendous generosity; not just for the economic but also for the moral support, and for the wonderful opportunity, which I will always remember with gratitude.

This Scholarship has opened doors for me and helped me take my first steps in searching for new goals; it has allowed me to take the decision to continue with my education and play an important role in the Charles Darwin Foundation's work, and to be up-to-date with biology and related areas of scientific research.

If I had not been given this opportunity, I would have made other decisions about my life... Now I have new things on the horizon of my life; I can look forward to being a Master of Science, which previously did not seem possible; I can specialize in conservation biology and the management of Protected Natural Areas.

This experience has also woken in me a love and passion for my beloved birds; finches, mockingbirds, Galápagos doves, albatross, yellow warblers, pintail ducks, frigate birds, moorhens, penguins and cormorants, and now especially the Lava Gulls...

Thanks to you and Galápagos Travel passengers, the Lava Gulls and I will be able to make a good future. We will always be grateful to you."

In our opinion, the future of Galapagos Islands is in the hands of Ecuador, and the islands need environmentally-sensitive and educated Ecuadorians (such as these excellent graduate students). A rather remarkable example of this is that our second graduate student, Washington Tapia, is currently the Galápagos National Park senior official responsible for CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. Sr. Tapia also served as interim Park Director in 2005.

To learn more about how you can support this program and these amazing students please click here. Any assistance you may wish to offer would obviously be greatly appreciated.

Low Impact Tourism

GALAPAGOS TRAVEL is dedicated to preserving the ecological integrity of the Galapagos Islands. We promote sustainable low impact tourism and feel that nature-oriented tourism should remain as the main economic activity of the Galapagos. Further, we perceive that the truly unique and rich natural resources of the Galápagos are threatened by commercial fisheries and by introduced species of plants and animals. For a detailed description and analysis of these problems, we refer you to information offered by the Galápagos Coalition. We feel that a necessary condition to support the growth of future tourism is increased protection for the islands and its natural resources. This protection refers to both legislative action and the enforcement of these laws. To this end, GALAPAGOS TRAVEL was a founding member of the INTERNATIONAL GALAPAGOS TOUR OPERATORS ASSOCIATION. The mission is to have a unified, strong voice - one that will be heard by the world press, the concerned public, and the Ecuadorian government.

Scouting Program

GALAPAGOS TRAVEL also helps fund a local chapter of the Scouts. The Nueva Era Scout Foundation provides conservation education and recreation activities to local boys and girls in San Cristobal - a first in Galápagos. Over the past 10 years activities in collaboration with the Charles Darwin Research Station have included numerous service projects like beach clean ups, mural painting, and organizing and installing trash cans throughout the malecon (waterfront park). Their English language courses continue to surpass everyone's expectations, with hundreds of students since 1999, ranging in age from 3 to 50! Like all of their projects, English classes serve as a medium for messages of conservation and the importance of Galápagos. Their conservation message also reaches the local community through a New Environmental Awareness Center. During the summer of 2000 they inaugurated Cinema Paraiso - with several hundred members of the community of San Cristobal in attendance, they screened movies on the weekends under the stars and next to the crashing waves.

At Home in California

GALAPAGOS TRAVEL supports a number of local and national organizations and groups as well, from the Monterey Bay Aquarium to the Marine Mammal Rescue Center, Long Marine Lab, NRDC, Santa Cruz Natural History Museum, Desert Turtle and Tortoise Society, etc... Volunteerism is also supported in the staff, with paid time off to volunteer or with matching donations.

Debbie has volunteered at the Monterey Bay Aquarium nearly as long as she has lived in California, including over 13 years inside the penguin exhibit. In 2011 she moves to a new exhibit at the aquarium; Sea Horses.

Causes close to Julie's heart are outwardly at odds with each other; cats and fish. For years Julie has been a supporter of Project Purr - a local feral cat rescue group. More recently she has also been volunteering her time at a wild salmon and trout fishery in the nearby mountains (no doubt repairing her karma for the time she spends fly fishing).

Mark's volunteer time is more often than not spent on a bicycle. The California AIDS LifeCycle is a 550 mile charity bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and 2011 will mark his 6th time riding the event. Mark also volunteers with the Santa Cruz AIDS Project, where he is past board member, producing and directing events or crewing on their own Surf City AIDS Ride century. For 3 seasons Mark has also been a volunteer with US Fish & Wildlife Service working on Midway Atoll on the annual albatross count (it's a lot harder than you might think to actually count roughly half a million nests each year!)