Detailed Itinerary

Monday 6th February
Fly to Quito via Miami. Arrive around midnight local time and go straight to our hotel.

Tuesday 7th February
Day for exploring Quito, the capital of Ecuador, which is said to the the most attractive of all the colonial capitals of South America. On a clear day Andean peaks tower around and the sun is bright and strong. The name Quito means "Eternal Spring" or "Place of the Hummingbirds" in the ancient language of Quechua. At 9,000 feet, Quito is the second highest capital city in the world, so nothing too strenuous today!

Wednesday 8th February
Fly to the Galapagos islands via Guayaquil and join the "Cachalote" either on Baltra or San Cristobal Island.

During the next 14 days we will visit:-

ESPANOLA - the oldest island in the archipelago. We are promised colonies of sealions lining the beach and large numbers of Marine Iguana. We will walk along a cliff-top through colonies of Blue-footed Boobies and see lots of local birds including hawks, Darwin's Finch, Galapagos Dove, Yellow Warbler and the fearless Hood Mockingbird (these last have been known to perch on walkers' tripods!!)

FLOREANA - legend says this was a favourite haunt of pirates!! This island is the only one to have a freshwater spring, but few people live here. We hope to see Greater Flamingoes, Brown Pelicans and lots of others. At the far end of our walk is a fine white sand beach where rays, turtles and sharks are often seen. We might visit Devil's Crown to snorkel in the shallow flooded crater which has some of the best snorkelling in the islands.

ISABELA - the largest of the islands and, some say, the most fascinating. We will spend 3 days there, sailing around the back (west) of the island where few tourists ever go. Beautiful deserted coves and occasional pods of whales will be our reward! There is a sheltered anchorage at Tagus Cove in the NW of Isabela with views of boobies (winged variety!). Brown Noddies (I hope Big Ears knows) Galapagos Penguins and Sally Lightfoot crabs. A short but steep walk up the head of the cove will give us views of Darwin's Crater Lake, where we might see phalaropes and Volcano Wolf - 5,600 feet is the highest point on the islands. Urbina Bay offers the largest Marine Iguanas in the islands and Elizabeth Bay is a mangrove lagoon where we will have a peaceful boat ride amongst the eerie creeks and may see green turtles, white-tiped sharks and rays in the shalow water.

FERNANDINA - the most-recently-formed of the islands, is a shield volcano (so-named because it is shallow and looks like a warrior's shield, the other types of volcano being the stratovolcano and the cinder cone volcano) with a mangrove-fringed coastline and magnificent lava formations. There are shallow langoons where Marine Iguanas and turtles swim - offshore we might see Killer Whales!

Sailing round the headland of Cape Berkeley we get our best chance of seeing whales and dolphins - and we sail over the equator (I must look up the Royal Navy tradition when sailing over the equator....)

JAMES ISLAND - Buccaneer Cove is famed for its association with British pirates. We might visit Puerto Egas and the fur seal "grottos"

Time permitting we will have a quick look at RABIDA island which has some good snorkelling in the clear water.

BARTOLOME - we will climb a steep slope (stairway!) to the sumit with magnificent views over Pinnacle Rock (used in many films and books). Great geological interest here with cinder and spatter cones, lava tubes and lava flows in this almost lunar landscape. We hope to swim from the sandy beach (where turtles lay their eggs) and snorkel around the Pinnacle Rock itself - with penguins!!

We cross back over the equator to GENOVESA accompanied by flying fish and dolphins and head south to NORTH SEYMOUR ISLAND and then to Academy Bay and land on SANTA CRUZ ISLAND at Puerto Ayora, the main town of the Galapagos with about 6,000 inhabitants. Here we visit the Charles Darwin Research Station with its Giant Tortoise breeding project.

SOUTH PLAZA where we may have to chase some Galapagos sealions off the jetty as they like to bask there in the sun.

SANTA FE - for a very brief stop but we might get chance to swim with the sealions. The rocky reef here is a good place to look for the white-tipped Reef Shark!! Time permitting we will go looking for the Santa Fe Land Iguana or the endemic Galapagos Snake.

Wednesday 22nd February
Fly back to Quito.

Thursday 23rd February
Leave Quito early in the morning to drive along the "Avenue of Volcanoes" and up to the high slopes of Antisana. This volcano is snow-covered all year round and is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world at just under 20,000 feet. Just hope I do not get altitude sickness!!

Friday 24th February
Today we go to Sacha Lodge for our 4 days in the rain forest. We fly from Mariscal Sucre airport to Oriente (45-minute flight) going over the Andes. Apparently the humid jungle air hits you as you disembark from the plane. We go to the docks and take a covered motorized canoe for the 2.5 hour, 50-mile, trip downstream to Sacha Lodge. The river Napo is Ecuador's principal Amazon tributary and is about 1/3 of a mile wide.

Sacha is a 3,200 acre reserve and we will walk along a raised boardwalk through dense flooded palm forests where several species of monkey can be seen. arriving at the oxbow lake of Pilchicocha, we get into traditional dugout canoes to travel across to the far side of the lake to the lodge, which is set in swampland!!!

Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th February will be spent exploring the rain forest and climbing to the 43-metre canopy towers, linked by walkways - too many birds and animals to list here!! the guides will instruct us on the medicinal uses for the plants, local beliefs and customs as well as the ecology and fragility of the rainforest ecosystem.

Sacha also has Ecuador's largest butterly farm which exports pupae all around the world - and we will spend an afternoon in the flying area (I hate things flying round my head - I'm getting goose-bumps already!!!!). We will also have a night walk in the forest and take to the waters of Pilchicocha to search for the Spectacled Caiman (presumably by torch-light).

Monday 27th February
Return to Quito via the dug-out canoe across the lake, walk along the boardwalk, the motorised canoe up stream for 2.5 hours and flight over the Andes.... WOW!! Arriving back in the early afternoon - relax, last-minute shop or birdwatching in the park.

Tuesday 28th February
Depart Quito in the morning to fly back to London

Wednesday 29th February (Leap Year Day!)
Arrive back in London.