Lord Nigel's Travels - South America - Galapagos islands

Welcome to a fresh @lordnigel's travels.  

I can't believe how quick time goes and it's been way too long since I produced a quality travel post for Steemit - so here goes :)

I really love the Galapagos islands. Relatively untouched by humans it's truly the best of nature on display for those lucky enough to see.

I'm going to share some more photo's I took while visiting; specifically these pictures were taken on the following  islands, Santa Cruz island, Bartholomew island, Fernandina island,  Isabella island and North Seymour Islands.

It's not easy to visit many  of these islands, they are regulated and some are out of bounds for tourists.

I have done a post on Galapagos previously, but this time I've found a few more "Gold" pictures and also added some movies as well; I'm converting a few to gif's as many people have said they enjoy the moving pictures.

Without further delay here's some photo's of Galapogos I'd like to share with my Steemian friends (many not previously shared on the internet before).

The various islands of Galapogos have very different landscapes, the older the island the less vegetation and more volcanic it appears.

New islands are born over 1000's of years as an under sea volcano spits out hot lava straight into the ocean, forming new islands. On some of the older islands are fantastic lava flow caves, you can walk underground for miles and they are pitch black deep within - make sure you take a torch and spare batteries :)

As the islands get older different plants and vegetation take hold, meaning the newer islands have very little plant life or animals at all. Unless you know where to look.

This Lava lizard below is a decent example of an animal which can make it on the younger islands - where other animals cannot.

As you venture around inland on many of the larger and older islands you can find many creatures, like this Giant tortoise.

These guys are seriously large and can weigh over 400kg  (Unfortunately roughly 1/3 of the species are now extinct since the time of  Charles Darwin).  

Here's a close up of a Giant tortoise's foot - hehe don't see one of these everyday

Other animals like this Land Iguana are pretty special, I love the golden colours. These guys basically just live on the cactus you can find everywhere on the young and medium aged islands.

Exploring the islands is difficult and time consuming as they are pretty much off limits to people, it's not easy to make your way around - being careful not to leave anything but foot prints behind - its easy to get turned around without a decent local guide.

No matter which island you are on the coasts lines are always spectacular

There are many strange and alien looking birds, look at this crazy guy below.

The birds don't fly away, they aren't scared of humans as they are rarely visited.

Above is a blue footed boobie - to be honest it took along time to get a photo of one of these, there weren't as many around as one might believe.

The flightless cormorant, has evolved to no longer need wings. In a few more generations its thought the wings will be gone completely and turned into fins - that's evolution for you!

What a fascinating creature.

The coast line is home to many other creatures, look at this cool looking crab.

Plenty of other visitors along the coast lines.

There are 1000's of sea turtles in the water, it really is one of the most amazing places on earth.

...BUT not trip to Galapagos is complete without checking out the Marine Iguana!! 

Just like all the other animals they have no fear of humans

Plenty of these guys around

and they love to swim.

I really love spending time with these guys

sometimes they spit salt water out their noses - pretty sure I have a film of it here somewhere..Hmnn maybe for the next post

....And that's it for today's Post - I hope you enjoyed exploring the Galapagos islands

I have many great shots from all over the planet. I'm looking forward to sharing many more favorites in the near future.

Until next time, all the best and take care.