The dance of the boobies
13/10/2006 09:51  - (SA)  

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Georgina Guedes

The Galapagos is a little chain of volcanic islands, each link becoming less active as it moves away from the hotspot that spat it up. The Galapagos Islands have never been attached to the mainland; they just quietly erupted a thousand kilometres out to sea.

So, when Charles Darwin landed there, he had the opportunity to observe an ecosystem that had never been tampered with by man, but also, having never been part of the mainland, had evolved in complete isolation. It was as a result of the notes he took here that he developed his theory of evolution.

Despite all my concerns, our boat on which we had booked our cruise was ship-shape, our beds were comfortable, if on the narrow side, and contrary to all expectations, the food served was delicious.

Our guide, who wasn't supposed to be able to speak English was completely fluet as well. When we revealed we were from South Africa, instead of the usual "but you aren't negroes!" response, he told us proudly that he had been Jake White's tourguide when he visited a few years ago.

One of the most sought-after sights of The Galapagos is the blue-footed booby. "Sought-after" is a term that is applied pretty loosely in The Galapagos.

It implies some measure of searching, which is really not the case at all. Instead, we were dumped on the shore of North Seymour and told that this is where we would see the boobies. As we rounded a corner and caught sight of our first bird sitting and staring stupidly at us about five metres away from the path, we all clamoured for the perfect shot.

We made prolific use of our cameras' zooms and jostled and shoved, until our informed us that there would be more of them a little further inland. Reluctantly, and somewhat sceptically, we rapidly fired off one or two more shots and then continued on our way.

The mating dance

Around the next corner the rocks were white with guano, and in every depression sat two or three blue-footed birds, all completely unflustered by our arrival. I had hoped, but not really dared to believe, that we would see their much-celebrated mating dance, and here it was, being performed in front of us in all its comic glory.

The intention of the dance is to draw as much attention as possible to the boobies' blue feet. When the male spots a female he likes, he waddles over to her and starts a little rolling march, lifting alternating feet quickly, and then lowering them slowly.

The whole time he's doing this, he looks immensely proud of himself, and once the female is finally won over, she joins in his dance, and it culminates in both of them pointing their beaks to the sky in a proud finale.

Although the booby's mating dance is the most famous Galapagos spectacle, I was far more taken with the albatross's performance. The male saunters past the female, as if picking her up was the last thing on his mind. He pauses, as if struck by a brilliant idea, and glances back over his shoulder at her. He then messes with the nonchalant effect by starting to nod enthusiastically. If she likes him, she starts nodding like a lunatic as well, and they move closer together, doing a strange sort of rolling walk.

Nodding completed, they both open their beaks wide in astonishment at the marvellousness of the other. Then they furiously clack their beaks against each other, like they're participating in some vicious fencing championship and then bob their heads madly from side to side.

This union results in a single chick, possibly the ugliest specimen of avian breeding I have ever stumbled across. It looks like it was assembled from leftover bison scrota. It's shaggy and filthy brown, but has absolutely no sense of its own unsightliness, as it plays among the rocks, picking up sticks and tossing them around like a puppy.

But by far my most favourite Galapagos creature is the sea lion. They are so prolific that it was sometimes necessary for the guide to chase them away so that we could alight from our dingy on the shores of various islands.

When our first seal caught sight of us snorkelling, she applied the brakes, and pulled herself up in a sleek black exclamation mark of interest. She sped towards us, heading disconcertingly straight for my face, but pulled up at the last minute and twisted upside down in front of me, her huge eyes staring searchingly into mine. A couple of her friends joined her and they swirled around us in a champagne cocktail of bubbles.

We got to play with seals like this pretty much every day. They were almost always good for a frolic, and even grabbed hold of our fins with their teeth and tugged us back into the waves if they weren?t done with us when we were ready to go.

Although we were never really ready to go, all good things come to an end, and it was necessary for us to pack up our things and leave. Two days later, my brain is still sloshing around in my skull as if I were on board a ship, but the photographs and memories will be treasured for a lifetime.