The Galapagos Islands are mostly renowned for being the inspiration to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, after his visit on the HMS Beagle in 1835. Which prompted him to write his book "On the Origin of Species" which changed the way we look at the natural world ever since,
The Islands, located approximately 1000km off the Ecuadorian coast line, is home to many endemic species. It is now the second largest marine reserve in the world next to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Three of the islands are populated (Santa Cruz, San Cristobal and Isabella). The location of the islands on the equator, and in a point where three oceanic currents converge, it provides for amazing variety amongst the islands.
The flora and fauna of the Islands are without a doubt the biggest tourist attraction of the Islands. Tourists can wander among colonies of sealions and tortoises that don't bat an eyelid at the presence of humans. Charles Darwin himself wrote about birds alighting on people.
Amongst sea lions and the famous giant tortoises you can expect to see all sorts of sea birds, marine and land iguanas. For divers the galapagos is one of the diving hotspots of the world, where you can swim amongst schools of hammerhead sharks, galapagos sharks, several types of rays and turtles, and if your lucky you can see the infamous whale shark and sun fish.