Santa Cruz Island
After a long navigation from the western Galápagos Islands, we woke up anchored at Academy Bay at Santa Cruz Island. Our adventure for the day was to enjoy the most emblematic of all the local animals: the giant tortoise. After a comfortable dry landing, we started walking towards the Charles Darwin Research Station in order to see these giants in captivity.
The first stop of the visit was at the baby tortoises’ corral. They were so cute and little, and we were amazed to realize how big they come to be when they are fully grown. Continuing with the visit, it was time to see the bachelor of the Galápagos: Lonesome George. He was waiting for some rangers to provide him with some delicious vegetation as a morning breakfast.
Farther into the station, another Galápagos celebrity was waiting for us: Diego from Española Island. Diego is the happiest male tortoise in the station, as he was provided with several females in the early 70’s; today he was very active, as usual. Finally, the big surprise: the dome giant tortoises’ corral. We had the opportunity to come inside this area to see the tortoises from a very close angle; they were amazingly big.
After our visit, it was time to spend a relaxing moment in town and see the local community’s activities. At the end of Main Street, the buses were waiting to give us a comfortable ride up to the Santa Cruz Highlands. The adventure continued to Los Gemelos: two magical pit craters located right at the middle of a big Scalesia forest. It was a humid paradise, with plenty of birds and flowering plants.
After the visit to the cloud forest, it was time to see giant tortoises in their natural habitat. As soon as we arrived to the tortoise reserve, we saw the walking giants, eating vegetation and moving from place to place. Just for a minute, we felt like we had gone back in time to see the tortoises’ pilgrimage to the mountains.
At the end of this marvelous afternoon, it was time to return to the National Geographic Endeavour, so the bus took us back to port as we enjoyed the beautiful Santa Cruz landscape in the highlands. There is nothing more magical than walking in the natural paradise of the Galápagos Islands.
