The Galapagos Islands are full of wild wonders

The Galapagos Islands are full of wild wonders and none more so than the maiden flight of this creature.

At the time, I thought it had changed my life. I didn't see how life could be the same after I had witnessed something so wonderful.

I was a couple of days into a week-long cruise around the Galapagos Islands, about 900 kilometres off the west coast of mainland Ecuador.

The volcanic islands' isolation led to the development of a unique ecosystem, where native animals thrived in the absence of natural predators.

Whole species grew up without fear of people.

Giant iguanas and turtles allow visitors to walk directly up to them.

I sun-baked among a colony of sea lions.

At Punta Suarez on the island of Espanola (also known as Hood), l was led by a guide across a lava field to the world's only nesting population of waved albatross.

The waved albatross is the biggest bird on the Galapagos. It delights in a wingspan of up to 2.5 metres.

Its wings are the same chestnut tinge as its body, its head and breast are white, its feet are grey-blue and a straw-coloured, oversized, tube-nosed bill lends the bird a faintly cartoonish mien.

The waved albatross is built for life at sea. In flight, it is magnificent. It can whirl and glide for days at a time, and forage for food 100 kilometres from its nest.

On land, however, the size of its wings gets in the way. While the waved albatross is an expert glider, it often finds it difficult to take off.

At the ridgetop of Punta Suarez, I watched a young bird train for its maiden flight. It stood in one rocky, scrubby spot, plumping its breast, stretching its legs, waving its wings in the air, struggling to catch its first current of air.