Santa Cruz Island
Today we visited one of the five inhabited islands of the Galápagos archipelago, Santa Cruz. This island holds the largest number of people in the Galápagos (approximately fifteen thousand); its estimated size is three hundred and eighty square miles, and its highest land sits at two thousand-three hundred and eighty four feet.
During the morning we visited the tortoises breeding center located in the Charles Darwin Research Station. We had the opportunity to observe Galápagos giant tortoises in all the different stages. We started our walk visiting the baby tortoises, which were resting in their small pens. Baby tortoises are kept in this center until they are five to six years old, which will give them more opportunities to survive on their own once placed back in the wild. Before the tortoises are released back to the islands where they belong, the Park rangers insert a tag underneath the skin in one of their legs. This is the way we keep a track on them and to monitor the survival rate on the field. This breeding program has been a real success, and up to today the park rangers have repatriated more than three thousand tortoises in different islands within the archipelago.
After a very nice lunch in the highlands, we continued our activities and explored “El Chato”. This area is part of the National Park, and particularly today the weather conditions were great! The sky was cloudy and the air temperature was pleasant, facilitating in this way our search for giant tortoises. During our walk we found first the small tortoises, but once that we reached the lagoon area, we found the big males walking through the grasses. To observe these prehistoric-looking creatures in their natural habitat is an experience our guests will never forget.
Later in the afternoon we went to the humid zone of the island. We visited the pit craters known as Los Gemelos. These are interesting volcanic formations created by a collapsed land. The vegetation around this place is out of the ordinary and it is represented mainly by the Scalecia forest (endemic daisy trees) which covers a huge area; ferns, grasses and some other plants made this area a fascinating place to visit. It was, in all the extent of the word, a great day!
Today we visited one of the five inhabited islands of the Galápagos archipelago, Santa Cruz. This island holds the largest number of people in the Galápagos (approximately fifteen thousand); its estimated size is three hundred and eighty square miles, and its highest land sits at two thousand-three hundred and eighty four feet.
During the morning we visited the tortoises breeding center located in the Charles Darwin Research Station. We had the opportunity to observe Galápagos giant tortoises in all the different stages. We started our walk visiting the baby tortoises, which were resting in their small pens. Baby tortoises are kept in this center until they are five to six years old, which will give them more opportunities to survive on their own once placed back in the wild. Before the tortoises are released back to the islands where they belong, the Park rangers insert a tag underneath the skin in one of their legs. This is the way we keep a track on them and to monitor the survival rate on the field. This breeding program has been a real success, and up to today the park rangers have repatriated more than three thousand tortoises in different islands within the archipelago.
After a very nice lunch in the highlands, we continued our activities and explored “El Chato”. This area is part of the National Park, and particularly today the weather conditions were great! The sky was cloudy and the air temperature was pleasant, facilitating in this way our search for giant tortoises. During our walk we found first the small tortoises, but once that we reached the lagoon area, we found the big males walking through the grasses. To observe these prehistoric-looking creatures in their natural habitat is an experience our guests will never forget.
Later in the afternoon we went to the humid zone of the island. We visited the pit craters known as Los Gemelos. These are interesting volcanic formations created by a collapsed land. The vegetation around this place is out of the ordinary and it is represented mainly by the Scalecia forest (endemic daisy trees) which covers a huge area; ferns, grasses and some other plants made this area a fascinating place to visit. It was, in all the extent of the word, a great day!
