The highlights of South Plaza were land iguanas and swallow tailed gulls, which are the only nocturnal gulls.
The snorkelling in tranquil, shallow turquoise waters off Santa Fé allowed us to get close to sharks, turtles, rays and baby sea lions.
Bartholomé is a newer island and its formation is more obvious as plant and animal life is in the early stages of forming. The peak is reached by 346 wooden steps. The spectacular view from the top was featured in the film ‘Master and Commander’, however none of the actors came to the island and locals were used, to be replaced by CGI versions of Russell Crowe and friends.
Chinese Hat is named after its shape and was another opportunity to snorkel, the highlight of which was swimming with reef sharks.
The Pikaia Lodge is on Santa Cruz Island, which has a population of 23,000 out of the total in the Galapagos of 25,000. The lodge has 14 rooms and is the only hotel with its own yacht. In a six day stay guests have three full day navigations. On each trip we were in a group with 2-4 other guests and our guide, Mario. Due to the strict regulations there was never more than one other group on each island but generally we were the only group.
Our first trip was to North Seymour and Mosquera. The islands usually have two names; one Spanish and one English, either may be the official name. The English names have naval connections eg the English name for Santa Cruz is Indefatigable. South Seymour is officially named Baltra.
North Seymour has blue footed booby birds and great and magnificent frigate birds. Mario, our guide, told us that we were lucky to see the mating ceremony of the boobies, known as the booby dance.
The island hike was followed by snorkelling and a beach walk on Mosquera Islet to see sea lions. A feature of all the islands is the approachability of all the animals, birds and sea life as they have not needed to adapt to human behaviour.
The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of 21 islands formed by volcanic eruptions as the Nazca tectonic plate moves at a rate of 7cm per year (the same rate as human nails grow) from north east to south west over a lava hotspot in the earth’s crust. This means that the western islands are “younger” – Fernandina, less than 500,000 years old, versus those in the east, upto 3.5 millions years old. The islands have never been attached to a continent and are separate from each other, giving rise to their unique eco-systems.
The islands were first discovered in 1535 and were used by whalers and pirates in the 16th and 17th centuries for safe harbour and a source of fresh meat in the form of giant tortoises, which would be kept alive on board ships for upto a year in forced hibernation. The whalers and pirates also bought unwanted visitors in the form of rats, cats, dogs, goats and pigs which continue to have a negative impact on the endemic species.
In 1832 Ecuador, the nearest country, claimed the islands. Ecuador began populating the islands in the 1920s and 1930s by giving free land to people seeking a new life based on fishing and agriculture. In 1959 the islands became a National Park, which covers 97% of the land with the other 3% owned privately by the population of 25,000 who now rely on tourism for a living.
In 1835 the Galapagos’ most famous visitor arrived and stayed for five weeks, Charles Darwin, on board The Beagle. He noticed the differences between the four species of mockingbirds found on different islands. This formed the basis of his theory of evolution in his book The Origin of Species published in 1859. He did not focus on the 17 types of what are now known as Darwin Finches as he did not recongise them as a group.
The Galapagos are now subject to strict regulations to protect the unique environment. Tourist numbers and travel to each island (numbers and times slots) is strictly regulated and visitors must be accompanied by a qualified guide. Citizenship is only allowed by birth or after 10 years of marriage. The rangers control invasive animals and plants (eg blackberries) and conservation is in place to protect species under threat of extinction. Since humans arrived the population of giant tortoises has reduced by 90% and four of the known species of 17 have become extinct.
A century before our trip to Egypt, Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutanhkhamun. Although discovered on 4th November 1922, it was not opened until the arrival of Carter’s financial backer Lord Carnarvon on 23rd November after receiving Carter’s telegram “At last we have made a wonderful discovery in the Valley; a magnificent tomb with seals intact; re-covered same for your arrival; congratulations.”
Carter lived in a nearby domed mudbrick house during his work in the Valley. It has been restored, open to visitors and showcases pictures, tools and letters.
Lord Carnarvon stayed at the far grander Winter Palace on the East Bank in Luxor overlooking the Nile, from where he announced the discovery. Originally opened in 1907 to attract Europe’s aristocracy, it is now a hotel run by Sofitel on licence from the Egyptian government who own many of the larger hotels in Egypt. Although it has seen better days and includes corporate Sofitel furnishings and signs, it is easy to imagine its hayday with the main building and garden structurally unchanged. Other notable residents included Agatha Christie – the hotel was used as a location when filming Death on the Nile.
The Theban hillside on the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor contains thousands of tombs cut into the limestone. The tombs were built for pharoahs, queens, family members, nobles and artisans. The main areas to visit are The Valley of the Kings, The Valley of the Queens and The Tombs of the Nobles. The Valley of the Kings has so far been found to contain 63 tombs; the most famous of which is Kings Valley 62 (KV 62) – the Tomb of Tutankhamun. It is not famous because he was a great pharoah but because it was found intact in 1922. The other tombs have long since been robbed and many were used for sheltering people and animinals.
The tombs were heavily decorated with images showing the life of the person and references to the gods who would deliver them to the afterlife. The hieraglyphics include cartouches which have enabled egyptolygists to identify the inhabitant. Probabaly the finest tomb is that of Queen Nefertari, one of the five wives of Ramses II.
The Ramesseum, on the West Bank at Luxor, is a memorial temple to Ramses II; classical visitors called it the Tomb of Ozymandias. It was named The Ramesseum by Jean-Francois Champollion the French Egyptologist who deciphered hieroglyphics. The huge fallen statues of Ramses II carved out of single pieces of red granite inspired Shelley to write the poem Ozymandias, ridiculing Ramses aspiration of immortality.
Abu Simbel lies on the shore of Lake Nasser on the the southern border of Egypt with Sudan. While the visit involved a 7 hour round trip from our base in Aswan, it was well worth it for the spectacle of the site as well as the incredible engineering involved in moving the site.
The route from Aswan to Abu Simbel is predominently desert, although the roads are straight and we were able to break the jourey at the “Mirage Cafetieria”. Police road checks were a regular feature of our trips, but they were more frequent on this route with various rules concerning times that tourist can travel, taking note of the passenger numbers and nationalities as well as the vehicle and driver details. It was also a requirment to use two drivers given the distance involved.
The Great Temple of Ramses II and Temple of Hathur, dedicated to his wife Nefertari, were built between 1274 and 1244 BC. The temples were moved 210m and raised 65m before being reopened in 1968 during the building of the Aswan High Dam. In total 22 monuments were moved, including those at Philae, but Abu Simbel is considered the greatest achievement. The temples were originally built into the rock-face, so the reconstruction involved building two false mountains, as well as moving 2,000 blocks weighing 10-40 tonnes. The original alignment with the sun was maintained.
The temple of Isis, temple of Hathor and kiosk of Trajan were moved from Philae Island to Agilika Island between 1972 and 1980 as part of the Aswan High Dam project. The site would have disappeared below the new level of the Nile if UNESCO had not intervened. The buildings were moved stone by stone and rebuilt on the new site 20m higher.
Kom Ombo lies on the east bank of the Nile just north of Aswan. Its temple is another Ptolemaic temple, but unusually dedicated to two gods; Sobek, the crocodile god, and Horus. It is symetrical with a dividing line down the centre with each half dedicated to the respective gods. The site has a crocodile museum housing crocodile mummies.
Shilli-Fully Travels 