Photo Safaris By Region AFRICA - Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve, Kenya - Namibia—Land of the Himba - Cape Town—Photo Tour for Women ANTARCTICA - Ultimate Antarctica ASIA - Angkor Wat & Bagan - China's Winter Tigers & Giant Pandas - Japan's Winter Wildlife - India—The Palace on Wheels - Snow Monkeys & Giant Pandas - Essential China—Iconic Landmarks & Landscapes - Great Rivers & Mountains of China & Tibet - Mongolia—The Golden Eagle Festival EUROPE - Britain's Winter Birdlife - Eclectic Holland - Wildlife of Hungary & Transylvania - Transylvania—Romania of Myth & Legend - Venice - Tuscany - Turkey—Continental Crossroads - Provence - Spitsbergen—The Pack Ice Voyage - Ultimate Puffins - Albania, Macedonia & Montenegro NORTH AMERICA - Ultimate Wolves - Ultimate Yellowstone - Horses & Icons of the Wild West in Winter - Nature & Digital Photo Seminars with John Shaw - Monument Valley & Slot Canyons - Great Smoky Mountains - Grand Canyon at Havasu Falls - Predatory Animals of North America - Action & Adventure Sports - Humpback Whales of Alaska's Inside Passage - Glacier National Park Field Workshop - Denali National Park in Autumn - Brown Bears of Katmai National Park in Autumn - South Dakota Wildlife—Bison Roundup & Mount Rushmore - World's Best Raptor Shoot - Nova Scotia—Photo Tour for Women PACIFICA - Papua New Guinea SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA - Patagonia' Mountain Landscapes - Baja California—Whales, Wildlife & Wilderness - Easter Island & Machu Picchu - Mexico's Colonial Heartland Photo Safaris By Date JANUARY - Ultimate Antarctica - Ultimate Wolves - Ultimate Yellowstone - Angkor Wat & Bagan - Britain's Winter Birdlife FEBRUARY - China's Winter Tigers & Giant Pandas - Horses & Icons of the Wild West in Winter - Nature & Digital Photo Seminars with John Shaw - Japan's Winter Wildlife MARCH - Baja California—Whales, Wildlife & Wilderness - Monument Valley & Slot Canyons - India—The Palace on Wheels APRIL - Nature & Digital Photo Seminar with John Shaw - Patagonia' Mountain Landscapes - Eclectic Holland - Great Smoky Mountains - Wildlife of Hungary & Transylvania MAY - Grand Canyon at Havasu Falls - Transylvania—Romania of Myth & Legend - Venice - Tuscany - Turkey—Continental Crossroads - Snow Monkeys & Giant Pandas JUNE - Predatory Animals of North America in Spring - Action & Adventure Sports - Essential China—Iconic Landmarks & Landscapes - Provence JULY - Spitsbergen—The Pack Ice Voyage - Ultimate Puffins AUGUST - Humpback Whales of Alaska's Inside Passage - Glacier National Park Field Workshop - Denali National Park in Autumn SEPTEMBER - Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve, Kenya - Brown Bears of Katmai National Park in Autumn - Great Rivers & Mountains of China & Tibet - Albania, Macedonia & Montenegro - Namibia—Land of the Himba - Mongolia—The Golden Eagle Festival - Predatory Animals of North America in Autumn - South Dakota Wildlife—Bison Roundup & Mount Rushmore OCTOBER - Papua New Guinea - World's Best Raptor Shoot - Nova Scotia—Photo Tour for Women - Nature & Digital Photo Seminars with John Shaw - Easter Island & Machu Picchu - Mexico's Colonial Heartland NOVEMBER - Wet & Wild—Andean Condors and Iquazú Falls DECEMBER - No tours scheduled for December 2008 JANUARY 2009 - Cape Town—Photo Tour for Women

		Ultimate Antarctica February 2–March 1, 2006 Spring Fever in Galapagos April 29–May 15, 2006 Polar Bears & Wildlife of Spitsbergen June 26–July 8, 2006 Masai Mara Wildlife Reserve, Kenya September 8–22, 2006 Emperor Penguins of Snow Hill Island, Antarctica October 19–November 3, 2006 and October 31–November 15, 2006 Do you know who produced the first 35mm slide film in North America? What was the name of the film, and how fast was it? The answer is Kodak, which first produced Kodachrome in 1936 with an ISO of 6. That's three stops slower than Fujichrome Velvia, which has an ISO of 50! We know photographers love trivia, so see if you can answer the next question. Which is the most expensive 35mm lens in the world? The Nikkor 1200mm f/5.6 with a special order price tag of approximately 70,000 USD. If you want to pay for the lens in Malagasy francs that will be 478,100,000 FMG, and you'll need a wheelbarrow to cart the cash to the camera store. Of far more value to you is the next question. Which are the three best wildlife photography locations in the world? Well, the answer is the Serengeti ecosystem in East Africa, the island of South Georgia in the Southern Ocean and the famed Galpagos Islands. Hey, wait a minute. Who says these are the three best locations? Well, we do, and we want to convince you that if you've never been to Darwin's enchanted isles in the tropics of the Pacific Ocean, then you haven't been to one of the great wildlife photo shoots on this planet, and it's time you packed your bags. The Caribbean flamingo is the most colorful of the six flamingo species in the world. Nikon F5, Nikkor 600mm f/5.6, Fujichrome Velvia. Let's start by debunking one of the common criticisms we hear about this bewitching archipelago — namely, that the Galpagos Islands are overrun by tourists and not like they used to be. Well, indeed there are certainly more tourists now than when the M.S. Lindblad Explorer first anchored offshore some 25 years ago. Currently, about 60,000 travelers visit the famed islands annually. In your mind that may sound like a lot of pale, pasty gringo legs tromping over the landscape, but let's put this number in perspective. Indeed, the tiny Galpagos Islands are busy when you compare them to the splendid vastness of Antarctica, where roughly 12,000 visitors landed last year. You could carry the comparison to an extreme, and conclude that the Galpagos Islands are being overrun when compared to Aulavik National Park in Canada's High Arctic where just 63 hardy souls trod the tundra last summer. Enough foolishness. Now we'll give you some really meaningful statistics. Last year 1,194,000 folks tromped the boardwalks in Everglades National Park; 3,499,400 ogled Half Dome in Yosemite National Park; and 4,635,700 admired the razor-backed ridge of Mount Rundle in Banff National Park. Now THOSE are serious numbers of tourists. Let's hammer one final nail into the coffin of the overcrowded-Galpagos myth. To do this, let's compare the islands to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most visited national park in the United States. Last year 10,800,000 wide-eyed visitors poured through the gates of the Smokies. That's at least ten times more tourists than have visited the Galpagos Islands since the beginning of time — and the enchanted islands are four times larger than the famed mountain park. So, if you want to be with the crowds, the Galpagos Islands are not where you want to be. In our five trips to the islands, we certainly saw other tourist boats, but rarely did those visitors ruin a photo opportunity or spoil a wildlife encounter. Sorry, but it just doesn't happen often enough to complain about it. In November, noisy red-billed tropicbirds perform spectacular aerial courtship displays. Nikon F100, Nikkor 300mm f/4, Fujichrome 100. Now that we've convinced you (we hope) that the Galpagos Islands are indeed a "must see," there are important things to consider in planning your trip. Most of the guidebooks are written for bird watchers and general nature enthusiasts, so it can be difficult to decide when to visit the islands, which kind of tour to select and which photo equipment to bring along? Here's our advice. When Should I Visit? There are two seasons in the Galpagos Islands: the cool/dry season from July to December and the warm/wet season from January to June. In the warm/wet season, the humidity is high and temperatures may climb into the high 80s, so midday excursions can be quite enervating. Generally, the skies are clear and cloudless in this season, but there are occasional heavy showers. Not surprisingly, the warm/wet season is the peak tourist season as it coincides with the northern winter when, for many of us, the novelty of shoveling snow has limited appeal. Breeding coloration is most intense in marine iguanas on Hood Island where this photo was taken. Nikon F4, Nikkor 80-200mm zoom, Fujichrome Velvia. At the beginning of the cool/dry season in July and August, skies are frequently overcast, but temperatures are pleasant with highs in the 70s. By the end of September the photography conditions have improved greatly and you get sunshine most of the day, although early mornings are often overcast. As the season advances, there is progressively more sunshine and less cloud cover each day. Our favorite time to visit the islands is from the mid-October to mid-November when there are still some clouds around to make the skies more interesting, and the heat and humidity are not so stifling. Two groups of birds are of interest to most Galpagos visitors: the seabirds — albatrosses, penguins, boobies, frigatebirds, brown pelicans and tropicbirds — and the land birds, especially the 13 species of Darwin's finches. The timing of your trip will vary, depending upon which group interests you most. Many of the seabirds, especially the photogenic boobies, nest throughout the year, but the greatest numbers nest during the cool/dry season. This is the time when cold currents bathe the islands with nutrient-rich seawater. Eighteen thousand pairs of waved albatross breed in the islands. Gaping is part of their courtship behavior. Nikon F5, Nikkor 80-200mm zoom, Fujichrome Velvia. The seabirds capitalize on the resultant fertility to feed their offspring. If you want to photograph the endemic waved albatross, the cool/dry season is the ONLY time to go. The albatross colonies are vacant from January to early April, when these magnificent aeronauts soar to the coast of South America to forage. Darwin's famous finches have a nesting cycle completely opposite to that of the seabirds. They nest primarily during the warm/wet season when rainfall coaxes luxuriant growth from the vegetation and many of the wildflowers bloom. The finches synchronize their nesting to coincide with the flush of insect and plant life that follows the rains. The small black and brown finches are interesting from an evolutionary perspective, but dreadfully dull to photograph, whereas the large seabirds with their colorful plumage and appealing courtship behavior make ideal photographic subjects. What Length of Trip Should You Choose? Ninety per cent of the tours going to the islands last one week. Visitors fly from Quito or Guayaquil on the mainland of Ecuador, and land on Baltra or San Cristobal islands on the eastern side of the archipelago. Virtually all of the 7-day tours limit their excursions to the eastern islands where most of the Galpagos wildlife species can be photographed. The flightless cormorant is the one seabird you are not likely to see on a one-week trip. The cormorant occurs only on Fernandina and along the western coastline of Isabela. These two islands are usually featured in the two-week packages, which afford enough time to travel to the western half of the archipelago. We've done one- and two-week trips, and realistically the one-week trip delivers more bang for your buck. The western islands are certainly interesting to experience, but considerable time is spent traveling, and there are fewer photo opportunities than on the eastern side. Fourteen different varieties of Opuntia, or prickly pear, cactus grow on the Galpagos. This tree-sized species is from Santiago Island. Nikon F5, Nikkor 28-70mm zoom, Fujichrome Velvia. How Should You Travel Among the Islands? Virtually everyone travels to the Galpagos as part of an organized tour. The three variables to consider include: the type of boat, its size and the tour leader. Two kinds of boats ply the waters of the archipelago: sailboats and motor launches. Sailboats are quieter than motorboats, but they are slower and they do much of their sailing during the day, using up valuable photography time. In contrast, motor launches usually travel at night so that you are already at your next day's landing when you roll out of your bunk in the morning. This allows you to go ashore as soon as the sun comes up. The Galpagos Islands straddle the equator, so the sun rises at 6:00 AM and sets at 6:00 PM. National park regulations stipulate that no one can be ashore after sunset or before sunrise. Motor launches carry 6 to 18 passengers, with some of the larger ships carrying three times that many. The larger cruise boats naturally offer more facilities on board, and have larger cabins, but there is a big drawback. Because of their larger passenger load, these ships are not permitted to land at many of the visitor sites. Furthermore, in order to minimize the impact on the wildlife, the passengers must come ashore in parties of 20. Thus, if you travel on one of the larger ships you can expect to go ashore in shifts and have your excursions abbreviated. Every group that visits the Galpagos Islands must be accompanied by a local naturalist-guide, licensed by the Ecuadorian Park Service. Some Galpagos tours (including JVO Photo Safaris) are also escorted by a photographic tour leader. Although this adds to the cost of the tour, we believe this is the most important factor for a photographer to consider in selecting a tour. Most Ecuadorian guides know nothing about photography or the special needs of photographers, and most groups are urged to walk rather quickly along the trails. These groups soon disappear from sight. When you are with like-minded people on a photo tour, no one is in a rush to get back to the ship and you can usually shoot to your heart's content. Read our September/October 2001 column for more details on the value of a photo safari versus a conventional nature tour. Which Lenses Do I Need? One of the things that make the islands such a wonderful photo destination is the unwariness of the wildlife. In many cases, the birds will almost let you touch them, although naturally, this is strictly forbidden. Because the wildlife is so approachable, you do not need long telephoto lenses to get good wildlife photographs. The folks who travel with us commonly use lenses in the 200mm to 300mm range. Personally we use everything from 20mm to 500mm lens with a 1.4 teleconverter. On all of the islands, visitors must stay on a designated trail. Although birds and reptiles are often loafing or nesting right beside the trail, or on the trail itself, sometimes the best shots are of subjects a short distance away from the trail and you need big glass to capture a strong image. It's this photographic variety and accessibility that makes the Galpagos such a unique and marvelous location in which to shoot. The Galpagos Islands are one of those rare locations where no one is ever disappointed. Besides the obvious appeal for photographers, the tropical weather soothes the psyche and warms the soul, the snorkeling is outstanding, and the local people friendly and smiling. And don't forget the evening meals on deck at sunset as your boat motors to another picturesque location. It's the perfect way to end a perfect day — and there are many perfect days in the Galpagos. Don't wait another year to visit one of the planet's greatest wildlife spectacles.

	Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc. P.O. Box 655, Vashon Island, Washington USA 98070 Phone: (206) 463-5383   Fax: (206) 463-5484    Email: info@photosafaris.com Copyright © 2008, Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc.