Santa Cruz Island
Our expedition brought us today to Santa Cruz Island. We spent the whole day here; at this time of the year it becomes a lush green island. Early in the morning we visited the Charles Darwin Station. The tortoises’ breeding center located there is a major attraction not only for we had the chance to see these reptiles up close but for its scientific value as well. During this visit our guests learned about all the different conservations programs that the National Park Service along with the Charles Darwin Station which have been developing for many years in the Galápagos Islands. We observed many baby tortoises in their enclosures as well as adult tortoises. The highlight for many of our guests was Lonesome George. This is probably the most famous tortoise from the Galápagos Islands. Unfortunately he is the very last of his kind. Efforts have been made to find him a mate but we have not been successful. After this visit we had a chance to stay in for a while in the town of Puerto Ayora. In this colorful place we had great opportunity to see how the local population lives in the Galápagos Islands. We headed to the highlands where we had a barbecue lunch in a beautiful and remote location. From there we went to look for giant tortoises in the wild. We were successful for we found several big individuals. Some tortoises were peacefully eating grasses while some others were cooling off in small ponds of water or under the vegetations’ shade.
In the afternoon we went back to Puerto Ayora where we visited Lindblad Expeditions’ newest initiative, Reflections. This is a community development project aimed at supporting the creation and sales of local art and artisanal products from the Galápagos. Currently, nearly all of the arts and crafts sold to tourists in the Galápagos come from outside the islands including mainland Ecuador and other South American countries. In order to support local artists and artisans who live on the islands, Lindblad has teamed up with Aid to Artisans, a global non-profit organization that works with artisans world-wide in the areas of product development, helping to bring their products to market. Reflections has been established as a not-for-profit, local foundation, returning all profits from the sale of local arts and crafts back to the artisanal community of the islands. Today was the shop’s Grand Opening. Here, the Mayor of Puerto Ayora, many local dignitaries and members of the community joined Sven Lindblad, Aid to Artisans representative Stacy Sandlinger and nine local artisans to celebrate this grand opening. After a ribbon cutting ceremony, local musicians and dancers performed.
Our expedition brought us today to Santa Cruz Island. We spent the whole day here; at this time of the year it becomes a lush green island. Early in the morning we visited the Charles Darwin Station. The tortoises’ breeding center located there is a major attraction not only for we had the chance to see these reptiles up close but for its scientific value as well. During this visit our guests learned about all the different conservations programs that the National Park Service along with the Charles Darwin Station which have been developing for many years in the Galápagos Islands. We observed many baby tortoises in their enclosures as well as adult tortoises. The highlight for many of our guests was Lonesome George. This is probably the most famous tortoise from the Galápagos Islands. Unfortunately he is the very last of his kind. Efforts have been made to find him a mate but we have not been successful. After this visit we had a chance to stay in for a while in the town of Puerto Ayora. In this colorful place we had great opportunity to see how the local population lives in the Galápagos Islands. We headed to the highlands where we had a barbecue lunch in a beautiful and remote location. From there we went to look for giant tortoises in the wild. We were successful for we found several big individuals. Some tortoises were peacefully eating grasses while some others were cooling off in small ponds of water or under the vegetations’ shade.
In the afternoon we went back to Puerto Ayora where we visited Lindblad Expeditions’ newest initiative, Reflections. This is a community development project aimed at supporting the creation and sales of local art and artisanal products from the Galápagos. Currently, nearly all of the arts and crafts sold to tourists in the Galápagos come from outside the islands including mainland Ecuador and other South American countries. In order to support local artists and artisans who live on the islands, Lindblad has teamed up with Aid to Artisans, a global non-profit organization that works with artisans world-wide in the areas of product development, helping to bring their products to market. Reflections has been established as a not-for-profit, local foundation, returning all profits from the sale of local arts and crafts back to the artisanal community of the islands. Today was the shop’s Grand Opening. Here, the Mayor of Puerto Ayora, many local dignitaries and members of the community joined Sven Lindblad, Aid to Artisans representative Stacy Sandlinger and nine local artisans to celebrate this grand opening. After a ribbon cutting ceremony, local musicians and dancers performed.
