Ecuador - Walewatching in the Nationalpark Machalilla - Liebe zur Erde

Ecuador


is located in western South America on the Pacific coast at the height of the equator and is geographically, climatically and ethnically one of the richest countries in the world. Apart from the Galapagos Islands, which are located 1000 km further in the Pacific Ocean and which politically belong to Ecuador, the country is divided into 3 zones - at our first hostel in Puerto Lopez, we found this on the walls of the breakfast room artistically painted:

• the coastal area consists of alluvium and low coastal mountains, home to the dry forests and cloud forests and with a rich marine biology. The sky during the summer is overcast, but not foggy, as the coast later will be in Peru.
  

• the central Andean region (Sierra) includes active volcanism dominated by mountain ranges and valleys on high altitude. Here lives an indigenous population, which is by their nature quite different from that in the coastal areas and in the Amazon basin.
  

• the eastern Amazon basin (Oriente) begins on the eastern slopes of the Andes and includes the sparsely populated Amazon basin - there is the rain forest and there is Pure Life!
  

The Andes are the result of a collision of two tectonic plates. The Pacific Nazca plate pushes from Colombia to Patagonia on the continent, while the South American plate moves westward and pushes over the Nazca plate. The entire area is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, so there are about 20 active volcanoes in Ecuador - which can make life difficult: just before our departure one of them exploded and spread  so much dust and ash that air traffic had to be stopped.


We start 2010 in Guayaquil, which lies on the equator, and leave from there for whale watching to the north, to the coast at Puerto Lopez in the Machalilla National Park: in the sea there, humpback whales cavort - it's the pairing District for this large heavy marine mammals. Further north, in Colombia, then they give birth to their babies. The National Park offers an abundance of different vegetation and wonderful fauna with all sorts of specimes: Tropical dry forest, coastal fog forest, howler monkeys, iguanas, anteaters, and 200 species of birds live in the forest. On the coast, there are boobies, pelicans and frigate birds. Also, coral reefs are among them. Thus, we have the opportunity to experience a bit of nature that just a few hundred kilometers further in connection with the American oil spill disaster perishes: not only the pelicans and boobies are washed up on the oily shores - a  vivid memory of the Gulf of Mexico, but also whales, too.