Galapágos Island

by Ruth Ikwuogu (Nigeria)

I didn't expect to find Nigeria

At 12:36pm, I stumbled into the Eko hotels and suites restaurant, breathless. Someone tapped me from behind. As I turned, I was caught in a tight embrace. Tina would not let go, even after what seemed like eternity. The feeling was mutual but I was in such a hurry, I couldn't reciprocate her gesture. I endured the hug while my eyes hovered around searching for my investor. At last, she let go and asked what I came for. I told her I was over three hours late for an investor's appointment and how she was my last hope for my project's completion. Tina burst out laughing. "Are you now Ogochuku Adeleke? I thought you bore Ruth in school". Tina is my investor! It was my turn to hug her endlessly! We talked and laughed for hours. One unforgettable childhood experience we had stole the day. My parents worked odd jobs to afford my fees at Corona school, the most expensive at the time. Most times, pupils of the school insisted on taking their friends along on family vacations abroad. I had never benefitted from such. One especially radiant afternoon, I just returned from school when mom, in a rather sweet manner, away from her normal strict self entered my room and in an angelic tone informed me that Tina, my best friend in school had invited me on a vacation with her family to the Galapágos islands! I froze! Preparations began for our trip and soon, all was set. I stayed at Tina's house the day before the trip to enable us leave early. "The Galapagos Islands are part of the country of Ecuador, situated in the Pacific Ocean 605 miles west of northern South America. They emerged from the bottom of the sea in form of astonishing volcanic upheavals. The archipelago consists of 19 islands, islets and rocks that dot a vast area of 17,000 square miles of ocean. Thanks to lack of natural predators, wildlife in the Galapagos has no fear of humans, making the islands one of the world’s greatest wonders and an incredibly magical destination to visit", Tina's mother explained when I asked about our destination. The d-day finally came! Their driver drove us to Muritala airport, Ikeja from where we departed. We arrived at the Galapágos island. I was surprised to see so many tourists of different races. I was incurably inquisitive and adventrous. Tina was too. We strayed away whenever our school had excursions. On day three of our vacation, we were at the Santiago island. I saw some colourful items on the ground ahead. Tina and I decided to go on an adventure to find some colourful treasure. We got to a point and decided to go separate ways and return to that spot after thirty minutes. We parted ways. I lost sense of time and kept exploring. On getting to the agreed spot, Tina was not there. I had spent two hours! I didn't know how to find her family. Terror overshadowed me. I just kept walking till I got to the colourful items I had seen on the ground ahead. Alas! they were mere waste plastics, not treasures! I didn't expect to find plastic waste in paradise. How did they get here, I wondered to myself before I remembered I was lost. "Ten years later, I travelled back to Galapágos islands seeking answers to my mind bugging questions and I discovered that though it is one of the most remote locations on earth, it has a unique ecosystem with plants and animals found nowhere else on earth, yet, plastics from around the world end up there. Away from it's picture-perfect beaches, Galapagos landscape is arid and unwelcoming. Plastics accumulate on the coastline and lavae rocks. Animals there live among the waste, mistaking them for food or getting trapped in debris. The plastics discipate into micro-plastics which we are eating, drinking and breathing. This is having adverse effects on our health and costing the world approximately 2.5trillion/year. Plastic pollution is what my organisation, CLEAN seeks to curtail " I concluded. Tina was so impressed. She invested millions in my project and pulled in heavy-weight investors in droves. The project was a huge success.