Santa Cruz

In the morning our first visit took us to the Galápagos National Park tortoise rearing center at the Charles Darwin Research Station. Here we had the opportunity to walk along arid areas of Santa Cruz, finding some of the typical vegetation of this place. We found one of highest Opuntia cactuses, together with the candelabra cactus and other beautiful native trees such as matazarno and Palo Santo. Darwin’s finches also delighted us with their behavior.

Many of the endangered populations of Galápagos tortoises have been brought back from the edge of the extinction through the breeding, rearing and repatriation program. But others, like the Pinta Island tortoise, face a precarious future. We met Lonesome George, the last tortoise found on Pinta Island. He is a sad reminder of the results of thoughtless exploitation by humans. In the 1800s, whalers carried off thousands of tortoises for their meat. Tortoises were also hunted for their oil. And introduced species, such as goats, change the island’s environment forever.

However, not all are sad stories. In the 1960s, the tortoise population of Española Island came so close to extinction that all the remaining tortoises - twelve females and two males- were brought to the park and station. The adult tortoises breed, and nests are cared for in captivity. When the length of the curved shell of a tortoise reaches 20 cm, it is marked for future identification and monitoring, packed up, and sent back to the home island. Now numbers over 1,000 and their offspring are reproducing in the wild.

At the Station, there is also a program of captive breeding of land iguanas. With an education objective, three adults are in this facility’s area: two males and one female. The males are brighter and more yellow, with a higher crest. For now there are only two species of endemic land iguanas, but in the future this will probably change. A reluctant species has been found, a pink land iguana in Wolf volcano in Isabela, so at least five different species could be described in the future.

In the highlands we went for a lovely lunch on one of the tortoise’s farms. There we found many tortoises in their natural environment. We also visited a lava tunnel and finally went to the Gemelos (Pit Craters) where we enjoyed more of the endemic wildlife.

Puerto Ayora is the largest town in the Islands, not in size, but in number of inhabitants. About 16,000 people live here, and around 2,000 live in the highlands of Santa Cruz. In the afternoon we visited this very active village, walking along Charles Darwin Street. Our guests had a great opportunity to shop, visit some local art galleries and have a nice cup of Galápagos coffee…

Now we are back on board looking forward to our next destination.