Rissel (naturalist guide)
I would not usually devote a whole page of our blog to a commentary on our guide, but Rissel had such an important influence on our tour of the Galapagos Islands that I feel it is warranted. And I did not want to include these comments in the main sections of the blog as they may give some days a more negative cast than is warranted - in fact we found every day extremely enjoyable and the things mentioned here had little impact on that enjoyment. It's just that the impact of a guide on a tour such as this should be much more enhancing than it actually was. In many ways Rissel was an amiable fellow who appeared quite knowledgable about the wildlife, plants and geology of the archipelago and he had some endearing qualities. On some occasions he certainly appeared to try very hard to get us into places where we would have a chance to see the less common endemic bird species - but at the time, and perhaps even more so in retrospect, although there was an appearance of effort, the effort did not appear to be backed by experience or ability. The avifauna of the Galapagos Islands is relatively limited and I would expect a naturalist guide on a deluxe Naturetrek tour, where participants might be expected to have a particular interest in seeing the birds, to have a greater knowledge of the identification features of the birds than I could glean from scanning a field guide in the airport. Certainly, he was able to educate us about some of the behavioural features of the endemic species and there were some species that he did get us onto very quickly and helpfully - but overall his bird identification skills were not adequate for a person with 17 years experience in his job. Some examples of his performance are given below. I accept that my requirements of a guide may be more exacting than those of a typical Galapagos tourist.
Day 5: At the daily evening briefing I was surprised to find that Rissel was recording Semipalmated Sandpiper (which has black legs). Alison and I had been at the back of the line (of 17 people) as we walked past the lagoon, so I had not heard Rissel's identification of the waders at the time. We had looked at them quite closely and I had obtained photographs - we had seen Least Sandpipers (very similar but has yellow legs). At the time I accepted that he had seen a bird we had not - but he did not mention Least Sandpiper, of which there were several. In retrospect I am sure he had misidentified Least as Semipalmated. Even if he had not looked at these waders properly he should have known that, being a common migrant, Least was the expected species, whilst Semipalmated is a vagrant.
Day 6: At the daily evening briefing we filled in the log, with Rissel listing a lot of plant species that were present on the islands we had visited, only a few of which had been pointed out during our walk around the island. A failing that was repeated on several subsequent days.
Day 7 or 8: Rissel recorded Large Ground Finch on either San Cristobal or Española, I don't recall which of these two days it was - but I do recall that on one of these two days he recorded this species on an island on which it does not occur.
Day 9: The Galapagos Rail farce on Santa Cruz
Day 12: Rissel changed our time of departure from boat to shore, without ensuring that all the tourists were informed of the change, and with consequent distress for those who were then 'late'. This was not the first time a change in plan had not been properly communicated, but I can't remember the detail of the previous occasion.
Day 15,16: Possibly the most uncomfortable exchange between Rissel and us tourists occurred at the log on Day 15 when were being briefed about the plans for Day 16. Rissel told us that the logged plan for the afternoon was to have a long walk at Tagus Cove from 2pm to 4pm and then to have a panga ride / snorkel / kayak according to individual choice. He said that he was proposing to change this to a short walk at 3pm, cancel the kayak/snorkel and all do a prolonged panga ride in order to reach the area where the Mangrove Finch can be found. Rissel explained that he was delaying the start of the walk because it would be too hot at 2pm. Though we were all happy to do the longer panga ride, none of us could understand why it would be OK to do a long walk at 2pm but too hot to do a short walk at that time - or why a later start necessitated cancellation of the snorkelling / kayaking. It proved extremely difficult to get Rissel to understand our concerns. It took about an hour to resolve this problem, in the course of which Rissel, rather petulantly, suggested that he would stay behind while we did the panga ride - without explaining why or in what way this would be helpful. In the end we agreed to do the kayak/snorkel at 1pm (and this proved to be one of the better kayak/snorkel excursions); do a short walk at 2pm and then do the long panga ride. In the event we all had a good afternoon - though Alison and I did find the Galapagos Martin affair a little troublesome (see below). When we arrived at the Mangrove Finch site it was clear that an attempt to see one from the panga would have little realistic chance of success.
Rissel's helpfulness in the identification of Darwin's Finches was generally disappointing. He did get onto and promptly identify Medium Tree Finch on Floreana and Woodpecker Finch and Vegetarian Finch on Santa Cruz - (the latter two only after I had pointed them out) - but his identification of some species was more based on male plumage features than bill size and shape (the more important feature) with the result that he appeared not to accept the possibility of there being any females of any species of Darwin's Finch. Whenever I pointed out a scarcer species in female plumage he concluded that it was a hybrid - I soon gave up pointing them out, but continued to photograph them.
Rissel's attempts to ensure that we all saw everything on offer were also poor. His usual means of describing where something was was to say "it's right there" and point. This was distinctly unhelpful for those who were not in his immediate vicinity. Fortunately most species were fairly obvious and seen in numbers on several days.
Galapagos Martin is a scarce species occurring mostly in the highlands of Isabella but also at some coastal locations; Rissel knew this and did make an effort to ensure that we were looking out for it at these sites. He also added a visit to Daphne Minor to the schedule on Day 18 to give us a final opportunity to locate this species. However, several times at Sierra Negra (day 14), Tagus Cove (day 15) and especially on the long panga ride from Tagus Cove towards the Mangrove Finch site, he would suddenly point and shout "Galapagos Martin ... right there!" On most of these occasions there was nothing to see, but on those occasions where a bird of the right sort of size was visible it was clearly a finch. During the panga ride this happened so frequently that Alison in particular was able to observe that these outbursts usually followed some distraction that had us take our eyes away from the higher levels of the sea-cliffs, where the martin would be expected, to observe something at the water's edge. By the time we got to Daphne Minor he had ceased this antic, presumably having realised that we were neither fooled nor amused by it. The long panga ride from Tagus Cove was one (of several) occasions on which Rissel had forgotten his binoculars. He borrowed Glyn's - who was in the other panga - and did not return them until we got back to the Beluga 2 hours later - I thought this entirely unacceptable.
Several times Rissel explained the difference between Lava Heron and Striated Heron as being entirely based on leg colour - red for Lava Heron, yellow for Striated Heron. In fact both species develop bright yellow legs in breeding plumage, other features (eg Lava Heron is fairly uniformly dark, Striated Heron is black-capped) are better for distinguishing adults, and juveniles may be indistinguishable.
On our penultimate night Rissel made it clear that he was expecting a tip of $40 per person per week (so $160 per couple) but more would be acceptable. There was no suggestion that the tip should be made according to the value he had added to the trip. We found it quite distasteful that a tip in excess of $100 for a service that was in many respects mediocre, would be received as insufficient. (The crew, on the other hand, deserved every cent of their tip).
Day 6: At the daily evening briefing we filled in the log, with Rissel listing a lot of plant species that were present on the islands we had visited, only a few of which had been pointed out during our walk around the island. A failing that was repeated on several subsequent days.
Day 7 or 8: Rissel recorded Large Ground Finch on either San Cristobal or Española, I don't recall which of these two days it was - but I do recall that on one of these two days he recorded this species on an island on which it does not occur.
Day 9: The Galapagos Rail farce on Santa Cruz
Day 12: Rissel changed our time of departure from boat to shore, without ensuring that all the tourists were informed of the change, and with consequent distress for those who were then 'late'. This was not the first time a change in plan had not been properly communicated, but I can't remember the detail of the previous occasion.
Day 15,16: Possibly the most uncomfortable exchange between Rissel and us tourists occurred at the log on Day 15 when were being briefed about the plans for Day 16. Rissel told us that the logged plan for the afternoon was to have a long walk at Tagus Cove from 2pm to 4pm and then to have a panga ride / snorkel / kayak according to individual choice. He said that he was proposing to change this to a short walk at 3pm, cancel the kayak/snorkel and all do a prolonged panga ride in order to reach the area where the Mangrove Finch can be found. Rissel explained that he was delaying the start of the walk because it would be too hot at 2pm. Though we were all happy to do the longer panga ride, none of us could understand why it would be OK to do a long walk at 2pm but too hot to do a short walk at that time - or why a later start necessitated cancellation of the snorkelling / kayaking. It proved extremely difficult to get Rissel to understand our concerns. It took about an hour to resolve this problem, in the course of which Rissel, rather petulantly, suggested that he would stay behind while we did the panga ride - without explaining why or in what way this would be helpful. In the end we agreed to do the kayak/snorkel at 1pm (and this proved to be one of the better kayak/snorkel excursions); do a short walk at 2pm and then do the long panga ride. In the event we all had a good afternoon - though Alison and I did find the Galapagos Martin affair a little troublesome (see below). When we arrived at the Mangrove Finch site it was clear that an attempt to see one from the panga would have little realistic chance of success.
Rissel's helpfulness in the identification of Darwin's Finches was generally disappointing. He did get onto and promptly identify Medium Tree Finch on Floreana and Woodpecker Finch and Vegetarian Finch on Santa Cruz - (the latter two only after I had pointed them out) - but his identification of some species was more based on male plumage features than bill size and shape (the more important feature) with the result that he appeared not to accept the possibility of there being any females of any species of Darwin's Finch. Whenever I pointed out a scarcer species in female plumage he concluded that it was a hybrid - I soon gave up pointing them out, but continued to photograph them.
Rissel's attempts to ensure that we all saw everything on offer were also poor. His usual means of describing where something was was to say "it's right there" and point. This was distinctly unhelpful for those who were not in his immediate vicinity. Fortunately most species were fairly obvious and seen in numbers on several days.
Galapagos Martin is a scarce species occurring mostly in the highlands of Isabella but also at some coastal locations; Rissel knew this and did make an effort to ensure that we were looking out for it at these sites. He also added a visit to Daphne Minor to the schedule on Day 18 to give us a final opportunity to locate this species. However, several times at Sierra Negra (day 14), Tagus Cove (day 15) and especially on the long panga ride from Tagus Cove towards the Mangrove Finch site, he would suddenly point and shout "Galapagos Martin ... right there!" On most of these occasions there was nothing to see, but on those occasions where a bird of the right sort of size was visible it was clearly a finch. During the panga ride this happened so frequently that Alison in particular was able to observe that these outbursts usually followed some distraction that had us take our eyes away from the higher levels of the sea-cliffs, where the martin would be expected, to observe something at the water's edge. By the time we got to Daphne Minor he had ceased this antic, presumably having realised that we were neither fooled nor amused by it. The long panga ride from Tagus Cove was one (of several) occasions on which Rissel had forgotten his binoculars. He borrowed Glyn's - who was in the other panga - and did not return them until we got back to the Beluga 2 hours later - I thought this entirely unacceptable.
Several times Rissel explained the difference between Lava Heron and Striated Heron as being entirely based on leg colour - red for Lava Heron, yellow for Striated Heron. In fact both species develop bright yellow legs in breeding plumage, other features (eg Lava Heron is fairly uniformly dark, Striated Heron is black-capped) are better for distinguishing adults, and juveniles may be indistinguishable.
On our penultimate night Rissel made it clear that he was expecting a tip of $40 per person per week (so $160 per couple) but more would be acceptable. There was no suggestion that the tip should be made according to the value he had added to the trip. We found it quite distasteful that a tip in excess of $100 for a service that was in many respects mediocre, would be received as insufficient. (The crew, on the other hand, deserved every cent of their tip).