Santa Cruz Island
It is always great to visit Santa Cruz Island. The largest port town of the island, Puerto Ayora, it is considered to be the economic capital of Galápagos. The headquarters of the Charles Darwin Research Center as well as the National Park Service are located on this island. These two institutions, since they were officially created in 1959, are working side by side for the conservation of the Galápagos. Today we had the opportunity to visit the Galápagos giant tortoises’ captive breeding program, established to restore their diminished populations. We also learned about the fascinating breeding program for Galápagos land iguanas.
We had warm weather to start the day, and even though we had some dark clouds above us, it didn’t rain at all during the morning. We walked along the streets of Puerto Ayora, where we have the largest human population in the whole archipelago. We explored and discovered that life here can be just as fascinating as the biological diversity found on the other islands. For our guests, their dream of observing wild Galápagos giant tortoises became true. We found several of these gentle giants roaming freely in the highlands. The male and female giant tortoises we observed were on their way to their breeding and nesting areas. We felt lucky and privileged to share their company and territory for a while. We felt in love with the landscape and wildlife of this island and now we are in sailing to Isabela Island with high hopes to learn and discover more about this wonderful paradise.
It is always great to visit Santa Cruz Island. The largest port town of the island, Puerto Ayora, it is considered to be the economic capital of Galápagos. The headquarters of the Charles Darwin Research Center as well as the National Park Service are located on this island. These two institutions, since they were officially created in 1959, are working side by side for the conservation of the Galápagos. Today we had the opportunity to visit the Galápagos giant tortoises’ captive breeding program, established to restore their diminished populations. We also learned about the fascinating breeding program for Galápagos land iguanas.
We had warm weather to start the day, and even though we had some dark clouds above us, it didn’t rain at all during the morning. We walked along the streets of Puerto Ayora, where we have the largest human population in the whole archipelago. We explored and discovered that life here can be just as fascinating as the biological diversity found on the other islands. For our guests, their dream of observing wild Galápagos giant tortoises became true. We found several of these gentle giants roaming freely in the highlands. The male and female giant tortoises we observed were on their way to their breeding and nesting areas. We felt lucky and privileged to share their company and territory for a while. We felt in love with the landscape and wildlife of this island and now we are in sailing to Isabela Island with high hopes to learn and discover more about this wonderful paradise.
