Book Description

Mention the Galápagos Islands to almost anyone, and the first things that come to mind are iguanas, tortoises, volcanic beaches, and, of course, Charles Darwin. That's what Michael D'Orso imagined when he first traveled there three years ago. What he discovered on these idyllic islands, though, was a tropical paradise under siege from an onslaught of desperately poor South American refugees and corrupt fishing fleets that have brought crime, crowding, pollution, and violence.

In a narrative as rich and exotic as the landscape and creatures that frame it, D'Orso tells the story of the odd European adventurers who first settled the Galápagos in the early twentieth century, of the eccentric Americans who arrived in the mid-1950s, of the scientists who dug in a decade after that, and of the ecotourism industry that has burgeoned over the last twenty years.

As he explores the conflicts on land and at sea that now threaten to destroy this fabled "Eden of Evolution," D'Orso follows a group of offbeat modern-day islanders:

• From Jack Nelson, owner and manager of the Hotel Galápagos, who came here in the late sixties to escape the Vietnam draft, to the local prostitutes who are sometimes paid with precious sea cucumbers rather than cash.
• From British biologist Godfrey Merlen and his colleagues at the rustic Darwin Research Station to the armed poachers and illegal hunters who evade park service rangers as they roam the islands' jungled hillsides and crystalline inlets in pursuit of their prey.
• From old-timers such as Gus Angermeyer, who fled Hitler's Germany in the 1930s at age twenty-three to sail to the Galápagos with his three brothers, to the teenaged islanders of today who surf the archipelago's worldclass waves by day and frequent its pulsing discotheques at night.

Plundering Paradise is an inside look at the Galápagos as seen through the eyes of the people who actually live there. It is a story of alarm and of crisis, but also of hope, as the men and women who treasure the beauty and wonder of these ageless islands gather their forces to fight to protect them.

Customer Reviews (4)

PLUNDERING OBJECTIVITY ?
D'Orso's book highlights some very serious issues regarding the conservation of the Galapagos. Some accounts are dramatic and perturbing, mostly so because given the unique and sensible nature of the islands, any disruption in them seems specially worthy of concern.

The problem I see with the book, however, is that the author shines a negative, unconstructive light on most every single subject that he mentions in a self-serving attempt to add to the impact of the book, even at the expense of loosing objectivity.

D'Orso's book is so unreasonably pessimistic on all fronts that one can't help but wonder why, if according to the D'Orso the present and, mostly, the future is so utterly bleak for the Galapagos Islands, have the islands repeatedly been deemed one of the best preserved natural parks in the world or one of the last remaining natural paradises in near pristine condition.

The author came to Ecuador during very difficult and trying times for the country. As an Ecuadorian, I readily admit that we are rough around the edges in many ways and that we have a long way to go on some fronts. We do. But D'Orso's journalism, it seems to me, is like going to the US during the LA riots, the ENRON debacle, the Marion Barry scandal, the Exxon Valdez spill, the O.J. soap opera, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, etc. and passing all this as everyday America in a book called "Plundering Nation" This would be wrong, wouldn't it? But doing so with mockery and disdain, as D'Orso does, is even less correct !

The Galapagos islands face many threats and what's being done to protect them may not be ultimately sufficient on all accounts, so improvements are becessary. Better controls, more funding and more political compromise may be needed.

I do dare say, however, that the current state of the islands and the ongoing control and conservation efforts are a source more for optimism than the other way around.

In the past several years introduced animals have been eradicated from several islands, land tortoises, reproduced and bred in captivity, have been repatriated to many islands; marine iguanas have also been bred and repatriated to islands where they were disappearing (as is the case with Baltra Island). Quarantines and controls have been implemented, education efforts have been undertaken, migration bans have been enforced. Several laws which require strong political will have been enacted. The Galapagos have been declared a marine reserve, where industrial fishing is completely off-limits.

However, according to the author, the Galapagos are a place were con-men arrive to evade the law..., where there are rusted Toyota's for taxis...(I've been to the Galapagos some 8 times and have never seen a rusted Toyota passing as a taxi!), a place to which Ecuadorians "flee along with their families from Quito and Guayaquil were the streets are awash with poverty and crime and the air stinks of corruption and despair...", etc., I could go on and on with this.

One last quote from the book (as it very much describes the scornful spirit with which D'Orso's book was written): "With such riches, there seems to be no reason for this nation to be spiraling downward like the swirl in a flushing toilet..."

Bottom line: the book is important and helpful in many ways and rightly unsettling, but its very flawed too.

The Most Invasive Animal
You know the Galapagos Islands.Darwin made them famous, of course, as a spark for his initial insights on evolution.The specks of land on the equator, off mainland Ecuador,have continued to perform as observatories for evolution.The tiny islands, burned by volcanoes and equatorial sun, have far more life than such an environment might seem able to support, but besides the famous and unusual bird species, there are hundreds of species of starfish, eighty species of spiders, and many others.If you watch TV documentaries or leaf through photo books, you get a flavor of just how rich and strange the life there is.You might know that the animals are so unused to humans that they have not learned to flee even hunters.You might have the idea that the deserted islands harbor but a few scientists and the ecotourists who come to see the unique offerings. _Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galapagos Islands_ (HarperCollins) by Michael D'Orso offers a different view of the islands, specifically about one of its newest and most intrusive species.There are about20,000 humans who make the Galapagos their home, or at least their workplace.They are not just scientists, but hoteliers, nightclub owners, poachers, beggars, religious proselytizers, law enforcers, and more.The title of this eye-opening book isn't a surprise; all these people are not doing the islands any good.

"These islands were simply not made for people," D'Orso writes, but he has interviewed a lot of them for this book to portray humans that are making a go of it anyway.Some of them are eccentric, some admirable, but the islands are few, and have desirable properties, and surpassing written law, the law of supply and demand holds sway (just as Darwin knew).Humans have a poor record of improving the lands they have inhabited everywhere, but D'Orso is withering in particular scorn for the corrupt Ecuadorian government, colloquially called "Absurdistan."Such an environment only encourages people to grab any profits they can, and makes impossible long range planning for conserving the islands' resources.Global agencies are reluctant to invest as they can predict how little money would make it to environmental improvement.There has been a proposal that the Galapagos should be under UN trusteeship; after all, it is one of those sites that requires little imagination to view as belonging to the heritage of all humans.From time to time someone suggests banning tourism.Neither proposal is likely to impress those who are currently gaining incomes from things as they stand.

D'Orso's book brings an important problem to light.It is written as an entertaining profile of different members of the human species who have washed ashore on Galapagos.There are the ex-hippie who has run a hotel there for thirty-five years, the German recluse, the park ranger who endangers himself by hunting poachers, the charmingly corrupt mayor, the Jehovah's Witness naturalist guide, and more.In describing their activities, he has given a human profile to the islands.It is a sad look, nonetheless.Market forces are no way to run an ecosystem.

tale of greed, poverty, and corruption
Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 30, 2003

The Galápagos Islands have the honor of being the only sizable, habitable land mass to remain unpopulated into the 20th century. The islands' lower slopes and some of the smaller islets are a weird moonscape of ancient lava flows devoid of fresh water. Uphill, however, are permanent water sources and soil capable of supporting orange, papaya, and coconut trees, to say nothing of herds of cattle.

Despite these lush conditions, no community had attempted to live on the Galápagos until the publication in Germany in 1923 of a travel book called "Galápagos: World's End" that described the islands as a tropical paradise. A few eccentrics came to see for themselves. They have been coming ever since.

Michael D'Orso went to the Galápagos in 1999 to chronicle the unusual native fauna. Not the huge iguanas that dive into the surf to feed, the finches that obligingly speciate while ornithologists watch, or the vast colonies of blue-footed boobies. The animals that fascinate D'Orso are the more eccentric members of species of homo sapiens, a type in which the Galápagos abound.

Take the charmingly corrupt mayor, leader of the 20,000 mostly impoverished Ecuadorians who stretch the ecosystem of the archipelago well beyond its capacity. Mayor Sevilla is only 41, but he grew up on the islands before the advent of automobiles and electricity.

"We ate a lot of tortoises," D'Orso quotes him saying. "It was free meat, just roaming around. We didn't understand why people would want to protect the animals when God gave us the animals to eat. Even to this day, I feel this way." Which explains why the mayor lets poachers out of jail as fast as National Park Rangers arrest them.

Or take Godfrey Merlen, who stumbled onto the islands in 1970 as an aimless youth working as crew on a rich man's yacht. He stayed, hung around the research station, made himself useful to field scientists, and has become a well-published, highly respected biologist in his own right without ever leaving the islands or taking an advanced degree.

D'Orso keeps trying to drag his attention back to the project that brought him here: to write about the more colorful of the gringo inhabitants - the beachcombers, con artists, and barefoot philosophers. But instead, his attention keeps drifting to the real story of these islands in the 21st century. The world's educated elite prizes the Galápagos for their dramatic and unique biology. But they belong to one of the poorest, most overpopulated, and corrupt nations on earth.

"Banana republic" is an insufficiently scornful term to describe a political system that not long ago saw three presidencies within an hour. The trouble with Ecuador is nothing new in the world: A small number of very wealthy families manage the country for private profit.

These families allow the National Park to exist, but do not, for example, allow the rangers to stop commercial fishing in park waters. The boats take everything: tuna, sea cucumbers, coral, shark fins. (Not the whole shark. They cut the fins off and throw the creatures back to die. Fins fetch astonishing prices in China where shark fin soup is a traditional wedding-banquet delicacy.)

D'Orso's casually powerful storytelling draws us in to the grotesquely unequal struggle between a unique and fragile ecosystem and the humans bent on getting rich fast.

Not that the environment pays all of the costs. On the outer islands, beyond the reach of law, and far beyond the reach of any kind of medical care, hundreds of desperately poor men dive for sea cucumbers using antiquated, badly maintained scuba gear. No one records how many die every year. No one records the tonnage of sea cucumbers shipped illegally to China, which are bought by men foolish enough to believe that sea cucumbers are an aphrodisiac.

Nor is there indication that anyone with power in Ecuador cares, certainly not the legislator who represents the Islands in the national congress. The flat roof of her house is covered with illegally harvested sea cucumbers, curing in the sun. Part travelogue, part history, and part sociological study, D'Orso's story should help shed light on these exotic islands of corruption.

Diana Muir is the author of Bullough's Pond

If you want to see the Galapagos, youýve waited too long.
Swimming with sea lions, petting giant tortoises, observing birds who have no fear of man...These Edenic images, promoted by tour companies, have led many of us to dream of traveling to the Galapagos Islands someday and walking in the footsteps of Charles Darwin.But while these images may have been true forty years ago, when small tour boats brought the first tourist-adventurers to the islands, they are far from true today.In this sad chronicle of the Galapagos, 600 miles from Ecuador, which both claims and governs them, Michael D'Orso documents the devastating changes which have taken place in the past ten years and focuses on the immediate crises of the past three years--crises which threaten the very existence of this irreplaceable natural resource.

Several astute and eccentric long-time residents of the islands serve as D'Orso's first person commentators, giving him insight in to the islands' history, explaining how they have changed, and commenting on the ecological disasters now unfolding.The disasters are many, and they are getting worse, according to D'Orso.In crisp and unambiguous prose, which he sometimes wields like a truncheon, he excoriates corrupt local officials, judges, and members of the national government.Many of these, he points out, have financial interests in the oil, fishing, boating, and tourism industries, but they also want to be seen as "populist" supporters of the poor immigrants who have flooded the Galapagos looking for a piece of the tourist action.The government, he says, is "so horrifically convoluted and corrupt that onlookers have taken to calling this country 'Absurdistan.'"

The introduction of non-native animal species (rats, feral dogs and cats, pigs, goats, and burros), along with foreign insect life (wasps, roaches, and fire ants), and foreign plants (blackberry, lantana, and wild guava bushes) has already permanently changed the environment on which much of the Galapagos wildlife depends.Fishing regulations are wantonly ignored, and penalties are not assessed for violations.Sea cucumbers and other marine life continue to be harvested willy-nilly; fishing boats with long-lines up to 75 miles long continue to hook and kill protected species; and rustbucket oil tankers, never inspected and often owned by highly placed public officials, carry nearly raw petroleum to the islands.They are already responsible for one major oil spill in the formerly pristine islands.

Most threatening, however, is the massive influx of economic refugees from the Ecuadorian mainland who have brought the permanent population to twenty thousand (to be thirty thousand by 2010).With a lack of fresh water and adequate sanitation, and the immigrants' single-minded determination to tap into the underwater riches of the Galapagos, the ecological disaster is not just threatening--it's already happened.In a recent uprising, these immigrants physically destroyed the national park and station offices, along with the personal homes of the directors, even ripping out their toilets.

D'Orso is passionate in his desire to awaken the world community to the disaster that is taking place before the islands have been totally destroyed.His forecast is bleak, but his message, and his book, are strong.Mary Whipple ... Read more

Book Description
The Galápagos Islands are a paradise for birders, botanists, geologists, and snorkelers, with many islands still devoid of human habitation. As they lie more than 600 miles west of South America and were never connected to the mainland, almost all plant and animal life arrived here by chance. As Charles Darwin discovered, the evolution of plants and animals is more visible here than anywhere else on Earth. John Kricher, a renowned ecologist and Galápagos ecotour guide, presents a detailed natural history of this spectacular archipelago. He looks at the amazing diversity of life found here, from flamingos to penguins, and explains the fascinating geology of these remote islands. Throughout his narrative, Kricher weaves the intriguing history of evolutionary biology that is intimately connected with the islands, and describes Darwin's adventures and observations while he was visiting the islands in 1835. Indeed, Kricher takes his chapter titles from comments scattered throughout Darwin's account of his expedition around the world, The Voyage of the Beagle. Kricher closes his book by assessing the conservation efforts and challenges to preserve the Galápagos. Also included is an island-by-island guide explaining exactly what you will find on the various islands. For both the ecotraveler and the nature enthusiast, Galápagos is essential reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Planning a trip to the Galapagos? Don't miss this book!
I was headed to the Galapagos Islands and bought this book on a whim - mostly because it had the Smithsonian series name and I wanted to learn more about the islands (Biology class was a long time ago). It was not only full of interesting information about the wildlife of the islands, but it was entertaining as well (not dry). I suppose it depends on your sense of humor, but here's an excerpt: "Around the Galapagos, some waved albatrosses have been observed attacking boobies and forcing them to dislodge the fish they have captured, which the albatrosses then claim as their own. Biologists call this behavior kleptoparasitism. Most other people call it robbery." There is also a section on turtle sex - the author jokes that he knows you were curious.
One neat thing about the book is its organization. Each chapter describes a particular group of animals (the birds, reptiles, etc.) so that you can turn to the section that interests you. The info is useful and interesting, and not overwhelming. There is a section at the end describing what you will find on each island which is extremely useful. There is a nice blending in of history - for example what exactly Darwin did and did not discover and his relationship with the animals on the island (the famous finches weren't even mentioned in Darwin's first writings on the origin of species).
This book gives you a wonderful overview of the islands - and in fact covers much of the same info that the guides give you. I liked this because I could be off taking pictures and enjoying the scenery...I already knew the stories the guides were telling.
This is a great read if you are planning a trip (or even if the Galapagos just interest you). Note: if you go to the islands, really check out the boat you are taking (some randomly change their schedules and only certain animals are on certain islands). Also, even if you don't normally get seasick - remember you will be on a small boat on the open ocean. There's a cool patch you can get (prescription only) - check with your doc. I'd also recommend at least an eight day cruise so you can get to more islands (it takes several hours to go from one island to the next). Other books you might check out: Wildlife of the Galapagos (Fitter, Hosking), Birds, Mammals & Reptiles of the Galapagos Islands (Swash, Still), and for those with no room in their luggage - the laminated pocket sheet of Galapagos Wildlife (Waterford Press).
An excellent book!
... Read more