Flakey, black iguanas make their erratic, daily shuffle from the wetlands to the beach, carving tracks in the cream sand with their tails as, feet away, a pair of bubble-gum pink flamingos dip their heads in a slush-colored swamp. Behind, the Sierra Negra volcano looms dangerously, just perceptible in the highland mist – ahead, the Pacific Ocean stretches as far as the eye can see. This is not a take…

Tell the head teacher of your children’s school that you’re taking them on a trip to Disney during term-time and you know what reaction you’ll get. But tell – let’s call her Ms Trunchbull – that you’re taking a Galapagos family trip, and she’ll probably send you off with a blessing. Why? Because your children will learn more in a morning in the Galapagos Islands than they will from fusty…

“The boat moved noiselessly over the calm surface, the water so clear it was almost imperceptible, as if we were gliding over emerald green air. The captain steered expertly, close enough to the stony islands to look pelicans in the eye, far enough to never scratch the boat on the surreal lava bridges. We passed over turtles and parrot fish, by blue-footed boobies and palo santo trees. None of it…

To all who visit it, the Galapagos National Park is as visually stunning as it is scientifically important. The 7,970 square kilometers (a total of 97% of the terrestrial part of the islands) of protected volcanic lands are unique for their wildly diverse lunar landscapes and the amazing animals who dwell there, a live laboratory in which every one of the specimens and case studies is a work of art.…

Choosing between Galapagos by boat or land is like deciding whether you’d prefer a round-the-world trip or to live half the year in your version of paradise: ideally, you’d do both. The same goes for a trip to the world-renowned natural hotspot in the most remote location in the Pacific Ocean: a combination of a Galapagos hotel and cruise yields the richest, most rewarding experience. But what if you could…

As you first fly over the Galapagos, 13 little specks way out 600 miles off Ecuador’s coast in the Pacific Ocean, the islands give little away of what you are yet to discover on your Galapagos vacation. Jagged, seemingly uninhabitable shocks of land surrounded by an infinity of blue do not make for the most promising of arrivals. Yet it’s this very ocean that holds the secrets to the extraordinary lifeforms that…