Our day started with a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the National Park Service Breeding Centre; the two as partners have managed to save the giant tortoises of the Galapagos from going extinct. The program started back in the 1960s, when they began working on restoring the population of the Española sub-species.
Numbers of tortoises where declining dramatically, due to the presence of introduced goats and donkeys to the islands. These mammals will forage the vegetation, leaving the tortoises not only without food but also without shelter. After years of research and hard work, the programs have been a 100% success, and today over 3000 young tortoises have been repatriated to their island of origin, and are now reproducing in the wild without human intervention.
The insights that were gained during the process of saving the tortoises were then applied to land iguana populations in the islands, and these reptiles were also from extinction.
In the afternoon, we travelled to the highlands of Santa Cruz, where tortoises in the wild kept our groups excited and busy. It was amazing to see them in their natural habitat, and our guests and photographers were able to capture the pictures that they had come to the islands for. Walking with these incredible, friendly creatures made us feel transported back to the beginning of time, when the tortoises roamed the islands by themselves…
It was a magical day in the Galapagos, and we are excited to see what new discoveries await us tomorrow.
