The Galapagos Islands force us to reconsider our relationship with nature. It isn’t only a matter of thinking about it, but one of immediate physical adaptation. Day-to-day life here entails navigating around the sea lions and marine iguanas that calmly occupy the islands’ piers, walkways, and benches. Even the most indifferent visitor or resident is faced with that rarest of situations: one where humans must work around the presence of wild animals.

For most people, the proximity and boldness of the wildlife on these ‘Enchanted Islands’ awakens a sense of awe and connectedness to nature. This capacity to inspire occurred most famously in a young Charles Darwin when he visited Galapagos on HMS Beagle in 1835. The insights and the collection of specimens he brought back from that visit would lead to his ground- breaking theory of natural selection, expounded in his seminal work, On the Origin of Species. Galapagos finches played a key role in Darwin’s evidence for what he termed the ‘survival of the fittest’. He noted that the finches on each island were similar but displayed subtle differences. They descended from a common ancestor but had evolved to adapt to different environments and food sources. In the mid-19th century, in a world governed by religious principles, Darwin’s theory was hugely controversial. Scientific evidence would, however, prove so compelling that it was eventually universally accepted by biologists and by much of the world today.

Situated about 1,000 kilometres from the South American mainland, Galapagos is an archipelago of 230 islands, islets, and rocks, although only five of the islands are inhabited. Geologically young, Galapagos is the product of fiery volcanic activity which continues to this day. Its coastline, rimmed by jet-black rock from former lava flows, is a forbidding environment for humans. Fresh water is scarce, and Galapagos was able to deter permanent human settlement until the first half of the 19th century. Remaining out of man’s reach for so long was the saving grace for its wild inhabitants. The natural resources of other Pacific islands have been consumed with such reckless appetite that it is estimated 70% of all vertebrates have been killed and, in many cases, exterminated.

Nevertheless, once human presence grew in and around the Galapagos, our influence was quickly and devastatingly felt. We brought cats, dogs, rats, and goats that wreaked havoc among animals and plants that had not evolved to deal with them. The giant tortoises were prized by both residents and visiting ships for their meat and water stores. These behemoth reptiles can live up to 177 years but suddenly their value was as living larders. Industrial fishing ships from around the world descended on the rich waters surrounding the islands, taking sharks, billfish, and tuna in wildly unsustainable numbers. Protection would first come in 1959 with the creation of the Galapagos National Park, the first of its kind in Ecuador. In 1974 the National Park masterplan recommended that park boundaries be extended seaward by two nautical miles. Then in 1998, the Galapagos Marine Protected Area was created, extending 40 nautical miles around the islands and covering 138,000km2, an area larger than England. Industrial fishing is prohibited within the MPA.