Santa Cruz Island
We had a very exciting day today at the island of Santa Cruz. An island that has locations more than three thousand feet above sea level, Santa Cruz gets a lot more rainfall than some of the flatter lower islands around the archipelago, so we also had a wet day. This is the peak of the rainy season and we enjoyed walking among the giant land tortoises under the rain.
The sun showed itself on us here and for the most part we experienced how life is in the wet humid tropics. The highlight of the day was, of course, the visit to the unique and endemic land tortoises, both the ones at the rearing center as well as the ones we were able to see in the wild. We had great fun crossing along the high grass searching for them.
The Galápagos Park Service runs three rearing centers in three of the four inhabited islands. After more than fifty years of raising them in captivity and repatriating them to their islands of origin, they have produced around five thousand baby tortoises that are back at their homes now reproducing happily in the wild.
Walking through a lava tube was another fabulous highlight of the day between the visiting of the tortoises.
