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Galapagos Conservation Trust Galapagos Conservation Trust
When you book your Galapagos holiday with us your are helping to conserve the Archipelago’s future.
We offer a complementary one year membership to the Galapagos Conservation Trust to all our Galapagos travellers.
The Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) is the only UK registered charity to focus exclusively on the conservation and sustainability of the Galapagos Archipelago.
Science, conservation, education and sustainability are focal points of their work, with the vision that the challenges faced by the Galapagos Archipelago can best be addressed using a holistic approach.
Funds support conservation projects in Galapagos, helping to contribute to the overall management of this unique ecosystem.
Galapagos Conservation Trust news: challenges, successes and plans
Unfortunately, the marine life of Galapagos continues to face threats such as over-fishing, illegal fishing and plastic pollution. But research is being undertaken, in collaboration with partner organizations and researchers, to gather more data and secure greater protection for biodiversity.
Galapagos Conservation Trust is also seeing the results of its increased political campaigning and will continue to provide advice directly to the Ecuadorian government. Only 4 short years ago, the issue of plastic was barely acknowledged but the Ecuadorian government is now very aware of GCT’s work, particularly on plastics.
However, it is still critical that marine protection in Galapagos be strengthened. A major milestone was the establishment of the Hermandad Reserve in January 2022, extending the GMR by 60,000km2. But, according to Galapagos Conservation Trust, “protected areas also need science-informed management plans to enhance species recovery, protect sustainable livelihoods, and improve waste management, and managers need to have the capacity and tools available for monitoring, surveillance, and impact tracking. This is the approach we are helping to drive for Galapagos.”
The Trust has been collaborating the Galapagos National Park and other partners looking into and tackling the plastic pollution in the Archipelago. As a result there is a Plastic Pollution Free Galapagos programme, which is a multi-million pound, multi-year project, feeding into larger projects attempting to tackle pollution in the wider Eastern Pacific region through the Pacific Plastics: Science to Solutions Network.
Andean Trails donates £500 a year to the Galapagos Conservation Trust.
Read more on Galapagos Conservation Trust their website.
Testimonials
M. Cook and D. Heyburn, UK. Jan 2025, Paine Circuit Self-Guided.
My friend & I recently did the 8 day O Trek self guided which was organized by Andean Trails. We are so pleased we paid the extra to have all the camps set up & food included rather than carrying all our camping equipment & food. The camps were run by two different companies. One company looked after Seron, Frances & Central where we had tents on stilts. These came with a very comfortable mattress that filled the whole tent, sleeping bags & pillows. The other company looked after Dickson, Los Perros, Gray & Paine Grande where the tents were on the ground with individual mattresses & sleeping bags. I was very impressed with the tents on stilts & found them to be more comfortable & spacious.
The included food was very good & sometimes excellent! We appreciated having a welcome drink which we had before our three course dinner, either a glass of wine or a pisco sour! Very civilized especially as we were in the mountains.
We received plenty of information from Kathy at Andean Trails before the trek began & we received all our vouchers for the transfers into & out of the park & the camps. It was all very well organized.
We also received a welcome pack at the bus station in Puerto Natales which included a sleeping sheet liner, a large travel towel & a water bottle. I had brought my own but I need not have done although it was handy having two water bottles. I filled one with water & one with a fruit tea.
I have wanted to go trekking in Torres del Paine for many years & choose to do it as part of my 60th birthday celebration whilst I'm still fit & able! We are very pleased we choose the O Trek rather than the W Trek as we explored the whole circuit & the first four days from Central to Gray were much quieter & we made friends with some lovely people from all around the world. It was very special. The trek from Gray to Paine Grande was the busiest day on the trail as many people doing the W Trek were doing a day walk there & back. We were also there during peak time. We started the trek on 26th January.
We were very lucky with the weather. We only had one day of rain although it was on the longest day when we trekked over the John Gardner Pass from Los Perros to Gray. We were able to dry our wet clothes by pegging them up in the back porch of our tent & they dried overnight thanks to the wind!
My friend & I enjoyed taking our time every day except on the longest day as we had to be at El Paso ranger hut by 14.00 plus it was raining! We took our time to enjoy the scenery, take photos & we made our packed lunches last most of the day!
We also appreciated having a hot shower every evening except at Los Perros camp which is the most basic camp. Originally we were advised there would be no food provided there but we were offered a simple dinner which consisted of rehydrated food. It was better than nothing!!
It would have been good to have had an extra night at Frances then we could have had a more leisurely trek up to the Mirador Britanico although it would have been backtracking but it was less than 2kms to the Valle del Frances.
The last trek up to Mirador Base Torres was quite emotional. We saw many of the friends we had made on the O Trek plus it was goodbye to an Amazing Memorable Adventure. Thank you Andean Trails for your organization. We have been recommending you to all our friends!
M. Cook and D. Heyburn. Jan 2025, Paine Circuit Self-Guided. UK
» Paine O Circuit Full Trek: Self-Guided
Deb O. and Lisa B., USA, Self-guided Tailormade Patagonia, Feb 2025. There were so many highlights! The summits and glacier excursions were magnificent. We were blessed with great weather most of the time. Having our own guide in Chalten was great and our guide was fantastic! There were a lot of details to this trip and they all came together nicely. The accommodations were very good. Very clean -no complaints. Guides were wonderful. Food was amazing -everything homemade. I think we benefited the local people. We acknowledged their services with appropriate tips and we patronized many local establishments while there. I can’t think of anything right now that I would do differently! Patagonia has been a “bucket list” trip for me. I will turn 60 and retire this year so it was my treat to myself. It was everything I hoped it would be. I hope it doesn’t change with the ever increasing tourism. It’s such a special place. They are very proud of their heritage and it deserves to be preserved. We found Andean Trails online and the e reviews were good and prices reasonable. It was a leap of faith that paid off. Thank you so much for bringing this experience to me.
» Patagonia Highlights Trekking Trip
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