Santa Cruz Island
Today our experience in the Galapagos took us back to civilization. After a few days of traveling in the solitude of these islands, we were forced to come back to buildings and facilities with one thing in mind…giant tortoises! Right after breakfast we headed to one of the most famous research centers in the world, the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS). The headquarters of CDRS is located in the town of Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island. With the establishment of CDRS in 1960 (the facilities were inaugurated in 1964) conservation work began in Galapagos. First a few enclosures for giant tortoises of different races and from different islands were erected. Today, our guests were very impressed to see the continuing efforts for the conservation of these magnificent animals.
Later in the morning we headed to the highlands of Santa Cruz. Some of our guests decided to take a break from all the nature related topics and we organized a volley ball game. After lunch there were a couple of options: we searched for tortoises in the wild, and those who are bird lovers, hiked at Los Gemelos in an endemic Scalesia forest looking for vermilion flycatchers, woodpecker finches and the endemic cuckoo.
Today our experience in the Galapagos took us back to civilization. After a few days of traveling in the solitude of these islands, we were forced to come back to buildings and facilities with one thing in mind…giant tortoises! Right after breakfast we headed to one of the most famous research centers in the world, the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS). The headquarters of CDRS is located in the town of Puerto Ayora, on Santa Cruz Island. With the establishment of CDRS in 1960 (the facilities were inaugurated in 1964) conservation work began in Galapagos. First a few enclosures for giant tortoises of different races and from different islands were erected. Today, our guests were very impressed to see the continuing efforts for the conservation of these magnificent animals.
Later in the morning we headed to the highlands of Santa Cruz. Some of our guests decided to take a break from all the nature related topics and we organized a volley ball game. After lunch there were a couple of options: we searched for tortoises in the wild, and those who are bird lovers, hiked at Los Gemelos in an endemic Scalesia forest looking for vermilion flycatchers, woodpecker finches and the endemic cuckoo.
