Galapagos Islands Desert & Lava Landscapes

The Galapagos Islands are volcanic in origin so the islands are uniform and made of oceanic basalt. The islands were never attached to the mainland. This means that all the inhabitants have arrived from another place and sometimes very far away. The red hot sterilised everything but little by little plants arrived and began to establish themselves. The islands are situated on top of 3 tetonic plates the Pacific, Cocos and Nazca. The islands are sitting on the Nazca plate and are drifting in a SE direction 7 cm per year. The geography of the islands were a real surprise to Dave and myself especially because they look as though they cannot sustain any animal or bird life.

The views from the top of Bartolome Island.


Lava flows meets desert -Santiago Island.

Kilometers of lava fields. We walked for a few hours and it was really hot. Without sunscreen your legs would have burnt to a crisp.