Santa Cruz Island

We arrived at Santa Cruz at seven thirty in the morning, just in time to start our visit. Our first destination was the Charles Darwin Research Station. The weather was nice for walking, a little overcast with a cool breeze. We walked trough a very green area full of local vegetation in order to get to the rearing center for giant tortoises.

At the rearing station, we were able to observe the steps taken that make this center so successful. We had the chance to be very close to the giant tortoises and their babies; as well as Lonesome George and Diego, the two most famous giant tortoises in Galápagos.

Later in the morning, we took buses up into the highlands of Santa Cruz to have lunch. After a tasty meal we continued exploring the island. We headed to the national park visitor site Los Gemelos; in English it means The Twins. They are two huge pit craters surrounded by an endemic forest full of Scalecia Pedunculata, a very special plant that is only found in the Galápagos Islands.

After having seen these amazing geological formations, we continued in our bus to search for Geochelone Porteri, the endemic species of Giant Tortoise on Santa Cruz Island. We had a great time walking on the grass finding tortoises in fresh water ponds, watching them drinking water and feeding on the vegetation of the area, completely in their natural habitat. We counted nearly twenty of them around us.

Today’s visit was also a great opportunity for our guests to get to know more about the people who live in Galápagos, people who have been living on these Islands for a long time. It was nice to see that in some places human beings and wildlife can coexist in harmony.