Santa Cruz Island
Today is a gorgeous Wednesday. It is the day I visit my home island and also the home of many healthy Galápagos giant tortoises. This is the most representative species of the archipelago, and our day is dedicated to them, both in the Charles Darwin Research Station and in the wild. We land on a jetty built by the National Park Service and walk straight to meet the famous tortoises that are the parents of hundreds of baby tortoises now back and safe in their home islands. We meet George, Lonesome George, who hasn’t become a parent yet, but keeps trying, or, we could say, we keep encouraging him to try. He is the last one of his kind, therefore for the sake of his unique subspecies he should breed with any of the two, or the two female tortoises that share the same corral with him at the Charles Darwin Research Station.
There were several species of Darwin finches in the area, and photographers found very gratifying the walk through the natural vegetation of the Park area, as well as the walk through town with great subjects to capture with the camera.
In the afternoon, after a splendid lunch, we visited the pit craters where we observed more and new species of Darwin finches, and where we enjoyed both the spectacular geology and the endemic vegetation, mostly formed by Scalesia species.
But there were more tortoises in the afternoon. We walked all over the plain, in the highlands of Santa Cruz and found one tortoise after another. We chose our favorite ones to photograph, sensed the ocean breeze even far up in the highlands and felt transported to the day when tortoises were the only big things moving on the Galápagos ground.
Today is a gorgeous Wednesday. It is the day I visit my home island and also the home of many healthy Galápagos giant tortoises. This is the most representative species of the archipelago, and our day is dedicated to them, both in the Charles Darwin Research Station and in the wild. We land on a jetty built by the National Park Service and walk straight to meet the famous tortoises that are the parents of hundreds of baby tortoises now back and safe in their home islands. We meet George, Lonesome George, who hasn’t become a parent yet, but keeps trying, or, we could say, we keep encouraging him to try. He is the last one of his kind, therefore for the sake of his unique subspecies he should breed with any of the two, or the two female tortoises that share the same corral with him at the Charles Darwin Research Station.
There were several species of Darwin finches in the area, and photographers found very gratifying the walk through the natural vegetation of the Park area, as well as the walk through town with great subjects to capture with the camera.
In the afternoon, after a splendid lunch, we visited the pit craters where we observed more and new species of Darwin finches, and where we enjoyed both the spectacular geology and the endemic vegetation, mostly formed by Scalesia species.
But there were more tortoises in the afternoon. We walked all over the plain, in the highlands of Santa Cruz and found one tortoise after another. We chose our favorite ones to photograph, sensed the ocean breeze even far up in the highlands and felt transported to the day when tortoises were the only big things moving on the Galápagos ground.
