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What to bring
Galapagos The Galapagos Islands are known as a natural laboratory of evolution and one of the most important natural history sites in the world. Charles Darwin was the first to publicize the fact that on neighboring islands with similar conditions, closely related yet different species existed. Giant lumbering tortoises, blue- footed bobies and equatorial penguins carry on their daily routine, indifferent to watching human visitors only feet way. Baby sea lions play with swimmers in the water, grabbing their flippers and performing somersaults. Approach as close as you like, but the dozens of marine iguanas sunning themselves on black rocks will just sit there and stare blankly back.
Highlands
The intense volcanic activity characteristic of this area has produced the discontinuities that resulted in a series of basins. Rising alongside the basins are thirty volcanoes, many of them active, with some of the world's highest, largest, and most beatiful snow-capped volcanic cones. These include Mount Chimborazo (20,561 feet / 6,310 metros) and Cotopaxi, the world's highest active volcano. Over 2000 meters above sea level, surrounded by majestic mountain ranges about 40 miles wide, lie the Ecuadorian highlands. Two parallel ranges - southern extensions of the Colombian ranges Cordillera Occidental and the Cordillera Central- make up the highland region. The two ranges are separated by a succession of ten main basins that form part of a long, deep Inter-Andean Valley.
Amazon Basin The Amazon Region takes up the other half of the country, spreading east from the gentle eastern slopes of the Andes into Perú. Rainforests are defined by low altitude (up to 1,000 meters), high temperatures (25-28° C ) and daily rainfall. Among the oldest of all ecosystems, the Amazon basin forests are at least 100 million years old. A large percentage of Ecuador's animals and plants live in this region. The jungle rivers of the Amazonian rainforest and the misty cloud forests of the eastern slopes of the Andes can provide a unforgettable experience for nature lovers.
Coast The coastal lowlands are in general relatively flat, interspersed with low hills that spur off the Andes. The most prominent is a line of hills reaching an altitude of approximately 750 meters (2,500 feet) that extends to the coastal of Guayaquil. CHECK THIS The northern part of the coastal lowlands is covered by tropical rain forest, while in the south there is a rapid transition to the arid conditions that prevail also over the coastal region of Peru.
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