“It’s doubtful whether any spot on earth can, in desolateness, furnish a parallel to this group,” observed the whaler, Herman Melville, author of the book Moby Dick. It must be said though, that the effort and any hardship encountered on a journey to the Galapagos Islands will be rewarded ten-fold, with scenes totally unique in a world slowly shrinking in its ability to surprise and amaze with its natural wonders.

For wildlife enthusiasts or just lovers of the natural beauty, a trip to the Galapagos really is the ultimate experience. If you’ve visited Africa on a safari and think you’ve “done” wildlife, then think again. Only after you’ve walked amongst the wide variety of creatures on these remote outcrops of volcanic earth can you say you’ve seen wildlife.

As a photojournalist, with a particular fascination for wildlife in its natural environment I have been fortunate to have had many close encounters with various species over the years. The following experience however, in the sea off the island of Rabida, must rank high in my top 10 as it periodically surfaces from my subconscious on cold, wet nights as I struggle to survive another British winter with thoughts of earlier travels.

Wherever we anchored for the night, swimming was always a part of our daily routine. I would slip on a snorkel and mask, gracelessly flop into the warm turquoise sparklers to swim and investigate. Only this time in the shallows off Rabida, it was me who was to be investigated by a group of energetic — young sea lions. As I swam with my bead completely submerged, watching the antics of these graceful creatures, one particularly boisterous creature swam directly at me at great speed, only to dive beneath me at the last possible moment.

With arms outstretched I tried to playfully grab the one lion. It seemed to guess my intentions as it would tease me at arms length, never letting me close enough to touch. For more than an hour I was subjected to their curiosity and play and when they finally swam off I realised they had left me with one of the most fantastic experiences I’d ever had with a wild creature.

Later on the shoreline, sea lions allowed me to play on the sand within feet of them as we all rolled our wet bodies into impersonations of chicken drumsticks, with a coating of sandy better.

In geological terms the Galapagos Islands are a very recent arrival, being of volcanic origin. These volcanoes burst through the ocean floor, some three to five million years ago, rose and eventually broke the surface of the water to emerge as islands.

Today they are among the world’s most active volcanic areas — there have been more than 50 eruptions in the last 200 years. In 1845 Charles Darwin, the naturalist, noted that, “Seeing every height crowned with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava streams still distinct, we are led to believe that within a period, geologically recent, the unbroken ocean was here spread out.”

Although the Galapagos were probably first discovered by the Incas around 1400AD it wasn’t until 1535, when the Bishop of Panama, Fray Tomas de Berlanga, accidentally found them that they were they “officially” discovered.

The Bishop’s tales of the amazing wildlife, and in particular the vast numbers of giant tortoises, led to the early cartographers naming the group — Islas de los Galapagos — which is Spanish for Islands of the Tortoises. Early sailors also named the archipelago, Las Islas Encantadas — The Enchanted Isles.

In 1892 they were officially renamed, Archipelago de Colon, after Christopher Columbus, though nowadays of course they are known throughout the world simply as the Galapagos.

For hundreds of years after their discovery the islands were used as a haven for pirates and buccaneers who plundered the Spanish conquistador’s ships carrying payrolls for their forces in South America and left with the Inca’s gold and silver. Then came the whalers in the 19th Century who, along with their predecessors, decimated the population of giant tortoises for fresh meat for the long voyages.

After being used for their strategic location by the Americans during World War II, the islands slowly went back to their relative anonymity, uninhabited except for a few local Ecuadorians.

Today the Galapagos’ fauna and wildlife are studied not only by Ecuadorian scientists, but by a succession of visiting international scientists such is the phenomenon of the islands.

Tourism now plays a major part in the economy of the archipelago. From 1934 onwards the government of Ecuador passed various acts concerning the conservation of the islands as a national park. In 1986 the park’s boundaries were even extended to include the waters 24km off the coast. These measures were a great achievement for a third world country more concerned with just raising the standard of living of its people.

The only way to see as much of the archipelago as possible in a short time is to take a cruise aboard a small boat. Each boat must have an official, licensed guide, accompanying it. The guides are graduates in the natural sciences and can discuss and explain the waiting wonders in three languages — Spanish, English and one other. Such is their strictness in observing the conservation laws that each time we came back on board from one island before leaving for another, we had to remove every particle of soil from our clothing and footwear.

It was a delight to adhere to such requests. I flew the 960km from mainland Ecuador to land on the island of San Cristobul near the small town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. At the makeshift terminal I received my long sought after circular stamp of the Galapagos Islands in my passport — definitely one to show off as a true travel “junkie”.

We were met and taken to our boat, “The Albatross”, by Patricia our guide for the following eight days.

The seas around the islands can get a little rough especially in a small boat bobbing between the swells. This was more than compensated for on the way to our first island stop off, as a school of bottle nosed dolphins accompanying our boat, continually leapt out of the water almost within reach. It was as if they were welcoming us to their incredible home.

On reaching Islas Lobos we were met with the first of many remarkable wildlife experiences as dozens of sea lions lay around us undisturbed, lazing in the sun with their ever playful young or playing in the shallow surf. The baby sea lions with their total lack of fear and sad, soulful, eyes just stared inquisitively at us.

We continued on our odyssey and anchored for the night off the island of Espanola. As we sat relaxing after another freshly caught dinner, swaying gently on a cooling breeze, we witnessed one of nature’s most spectacular treats. A massive red sun slowly slipped into the far western horizon, almost sizzling as it slid under the ocean, and on the opposite horizon, within moments, a large yellow moon steadily climbed up into a sky ever-changing in colour from deep orange to a reddish purple and finally to inky black.

The next morning we saw our first sea iguanas sprawled together on the lava rocks literally sunbathing to increase their body temperatures — black and red ugly reminders of our prehistoric past with their crest of spines running down their backs and their claw-like talons.

On Espanola, and on the other islands, we saw a plethora of birds, again seemingly fearless in the presence of man. Unless you have experienced it, you can only imagine the joy of being allowed to walk through a colony of nesting blue-footed boobies with their young chicks. They nest out on open ground and the naive trust those birds put in our hands was humbling.

We were fortunate to witness the Galapagos albatross courting. Pairs of birds made loud castanet-like clicking sounds as their long yellow bills come into constant contact. Our list of sightings grew over the days to include masked boobies, frigate birds (males displaying their balloon-like red throat sac), swallow tailed gulls, lava gulls, brown pelicans, red-billed tropic birds, great blue herons, doves, mocking birds and the multitude of Darwin’s finches.

The saddle-back tortoise has an elevated arched front and long neck that enables it to reach for the tall vegetation on the drier islands, while the domed shaped tortoise with its blunt front end is more often found pushing through dense brush on islands with lush vegetation.

While cruising around a lagoon off the island of Santa Fe in our small offshore dinghy, we came upon two magnificent sea turtles laboriously mating on the surface of the water. The female of the species is much larger to support the weight of the male as they mated.

A highlight of any visit to the islands is to see the giant tortoises which gave their Spanish name to the archipelago. In the Charles Darwin Station on Santa Cruz we saw how careful control and research is undertaken to ensure the survival of these mammoth beasts, which faced extinction at the hands of the early sailors who killed thousands.

Seymour North and Baltra Island were next on our itinerary. The lava fields had only cooled about 100 years ago and it wasn’t difficult to imagine the volcano erupting and the molten lava flowing to the sea, leaving behind a mosaic of pattered rock covering the ground.

With our arrival on the island of Santiago we had reached our final destination on this wildlife adventure. We spotted penguins, more suited to the cold waters of the Antarctic, though with the cooling influence of the cold Humboldt Current from the southern polar region, quite at home here on the broken lava field. They would rudely turn their backs on me whenever I appeared to get a photograph.

It was also on Santiago I was to realise a unique photo opportunity as I spotted a young Galapagos hawk perched on a rock in the middle of the beach. From 55m I slowly crawled, commando style, along the dunes towards it with camera held high above the damaging particles. I would pause every 11m to photograph the hawk in case it suddenly took flight. But of course I had forgotten where I was, and even this beautiful bird of prey would be undisturbed in the close presence of man. As a sea lion slept at his feet the bird allowed me within three metres as I filled the frame with it’s image.

This one scene alone will forever stay in my mind as the typical picture of the Galapagos — tame, unafraid birds and animals living together harmoniously in an absolute utopia of sun, sand and sea on these barren and remote islands.

The Galapagos Islands are among one of the last remaining places in the world which are relatively unchanged by the exploitations of man. The archipelago is a forever changing, living natural showpiece where man can see and study nature in its original state. If you do ever visit, leave only your footprints and take-away only memories of a unique place.

Fact File

Seeing the Islands: While it’s possible to stay on one particular island and take day trips, or to charter a yacht, by far the easiest and best way is to take an 8, 14 or 22 day all inclusive tour aboard a small boat.