Wednesday Walk Challenge : Afternoon walk on the small island Sombrero Chino, Galápagos

Today we are going for an afternoon walk on one of the smallest islands in the archipelago – Sombrero Chino/ Chinese Hat. The island has a landscape that changes withinn our one hour walk. We started at the white sandy beach and ended up on the other side, where the waves are crashing into the black lava rocks. The archipelago consists of several islands of different sizes,created by volcanic activity. Both the landscape and wildlife vary from island to island. For this reason, I decided to spend time visiting several of the islands. After having been ashore on the islands of Balta, Santa Cruz, Isabela, Fernandina and Santiago, the last island where I went to, was the small Sombrero Chino. It was also on this island I saw the first and only Galápagos hawk and the penguins. Sombrero Chino is one of the smallest islands. It is uninhabited by humans, but it has a lot to offer: white sandy beach, clear waters inviting to a swim with sea lions cubs, volcanic landscape and great views towards the island of Santiago.

As soon as we arrived in the small panga, three playful sea lion cubs jumbed into the water to greed us. Quite a large sea lion colony has made this beach there home. There were so many on the beach, that we felt surrounded! The cubs are so playfull. It was hard to leave them. They are absolutely adorable. When the crew left who left us on the beach, went back, one of the cubs had jumbed on board and went along for a short ride before he went back into the sea.

Santiago island in the background

This small island is located close to the bigger Santiago island, which you can see in the background from the beach. Finally we were able to leave the cubs to start our walk along the trail that took us to the opposite side of the island. When it comes to wildlife there are lots of the bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs and also some marine iguanas.

An absolute highlight was seing the Galápagos hawk. This was the first and also the only hawk I saw on the islands. It is both a bird of prey and a vulture. It was still there when we returned to the beach.

The view of the sea and Santiago is unforgettable

When you look at the cone with its gentle slope, you can see that it resembles an old-fashioned Chinese hat. The island was formed when the volcano on Santiago Island erupted a very long time ago. Most of the island was formed from lava and rock from the eruption. Over time, erosion has led to the formation of a channel between Sombrero Chino and Santiago. That's how it became seperate from the Santiago. Because the terrain is volcanic, the rocks are quite uneven at places. We had to look very carefully where we put our feet. At the end of the trail we made a stop to enjoy the view, looking at how the waves crashes into the black lava rocks.

Back on the beach again

The island is known to be a good place to snorkell. The water is calm and the marine life is spectacular. It is possible to see the white-tipped reef sharks, and ofcourse, lots of fish. But we stayed above the water. We were picked up in the small panga after the walk. Then we got lucky again. We saw two Galapagos penguins sitting on the rocks. These were the only two penguins I saw even I spend twelve days on the islands. They are rather small, and this is the only of its species who lives in the tropics, but it breeds in the Northern Hemisphere.

Due to the archipelago's isolated location, animal and plant life has developed without much outside influence. Up to 90% of the reptile species are found only here on these islands. For bird species, 45% are only found on these islands. The archipelago is perhaps best known for Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution. He arrived on the island of San Cristobal in 1835 and his studies of the wildlife were what led him to the theory of the evolution of species. The special wildlife still attracts scientists and many others. Galápagos is definitely worth a visit.