Wall Street Journal “Galapagos Under Siege”
The travel section of the January 5th Wall Street Journal ran a well-researched and balanced article on challenges facing the Galapagos Islands.
GALAPAGOS UNDER SIEGE
“The remote islands are known for a prehistoric landscape. Why a growing flock of well-meaning ecotourists is posing a new threat.
By Stan Sesser
Most of the wild goats that ravaged this famous archipelago, denuding some islands of their vegetation, have been hunted down. The same goes for the wild pigs that ate turtle eggs and killed small animals. Now comes the biggest problem of all — people like me.
![[Galapagos Map]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/PT-AH356_galapa_20080104185913.jpg) |
| Click on the image above to see an interactive version of this map. |
I’ve just spent two days here in Puerto Ayora, the largest town in the Galapagos, where new cinderblock buildings are radiating in every direction. This was followed by a five-day cruise to see the remarkable wildlife that inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The new hotels in Puerto Ayora and the large cruise ships — eight of them now carry as many visitors as the 72 smaller vessels that used to represent local tourism — are signs of the times. They’re part of the spiraling growth that has tripled the number of annual visitors to 120,000 in 15 years.”