Galapagos Wildlife: A Visitor's GUide [Paperback]

David Horwell (Author), Pete Oxford (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bradt Travel Guide Galapagos Wildlife | Publication Date: October 1, 1999

The Galapagos form Ecuador's best-known national park, and this is a comprehensive guide to the wildlife of the islands. A geological, climatic, and historical introduction to the islands is followed by coverage of the islands' unique plants, invertebrates, reptiles, birds, mammals, and seashore underwater creatures. This guide to the wildlife to be found there includes detailed walking tour plans as well as background information to the history and evolution of the islands.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A great guide."
--Global

"Extremely useful, with a good section detailing all of the main visitor sites."
--The Daily Telegraph

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Galapagos Wildlife focuses on the unique inhabitants of the Pacific islands west of Ecuador which have intrigued visitors and natural history enthusiasts ever since Charles Darwin's fist visit on HMS Beagle. Written and illustrated by licensed Galapagos tour guides, Galapagos Wildlife covers every aspect of both land and marine wildlife. From the giant tortoises that gave their name to the island to the 13 species of Darwin's finches, readers will be by turns fascinated, amused and amazed. This guide contains over 120 color photographs, island habitats, conservation and ecology and visitor sites with full-color trail plans. (5 1/4 x 8 1/2, 144 pages, maps, color photos)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides; 1st edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1898323887
• ISBN-13: 978-1898323884
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,740,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Travel size Galapagos, January 17, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Ithaca, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galapagos Wildlife: A Visitor's GUide (Paperback)

This relatively small book on the wildlife of the Galapagos Islands is packed with information and pictures. The author has gone to a great deal of trouble to condense a vast amount of data into a handbook for the traveller, without sacrificing essential information, clarity or accuracy. Not only does it cover the wildlife that the visitor is most likely to encounter, it also gives a succinct history of the islands. Working in the Galapagos Travel Industry, and having considered many similar books for pre-trip briefing and ready reference while in the islands, this is the book I would recommend.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good to superficial guide, depending on your interests, December 4, 2002

By 

JDiver "You haven't lived until you've dived." (Roseville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Galapagos Wildlife: A Visitor's GUide (Paperback)

Having visited the Galápagos and planning my return, I can say this introductory booklet (140 pages) is a reliable for people who want an overall idea of the ecology and want to identify some of the most prominent wildlife they are likely to encounter - it is easy to understand, has good information, decent photos of the main players and illustations of the commonest landing sites. For you, this booklet rates three stars for clarity, comprehension level and lightness in your backpack, but it fails next to Andy Swash and Rob Still's more comprehensive and better illustrated "Birds, Mammals and Reptiles of the Galápagos Island".

For those who want a more in depth knowledge of the Galápagos and their wildlife, or are traveling to some of the more remote sites or the northernmost islands: you will feel short-changed and wish you had purchased more comprehensive guide(s), so you can identify all the critters you will possibly observe and learn much more about their habitats and behaviors, climate and cvlimate zones, etc. For those travelers (birders, nature buffs, divers, etc.), this booklet rates a generous three stars for its relatively topical treatments.

Choose your guidebooks according to your interests and skills. And go there, walk softly and leave nothing. Visiting should have as little impact as possible, and in my opinion when done properly does help protect these wonderful islands of biological diversity from rampant pirate fishing, oil spills and short-sighted political stewardship. Our "tangibilitized" interest is the only one the Ecuadorian government- at least up until now- has responded to.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Galapagos Wildlife, December 5, 2001

By 

Chloe (New York City, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Galapagos Wildlife: A Visitor's GUide (Paperback)

I just came back from the Galapagos and found David Horwell's book indispensable. It is a very readable and concise introduction to the flora and fauna of the Galapagos islands. Beautiful photographs. Very informative. Easy to carry around and refer to. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in the Galapagos islands.