Santa Cruz Island
Today was a very special day, dedicated to those antediluvian-looking creatures, the Galápagos tortoises. Our first activity was to visit the breeding center at the Charles Darwin Research Station, which has been a great success since it was created 50 years ago. There is still much to accomplish, but our mission is to see them back in the wild like centuries ago.
Lonesome George is the most famous reptile, not only in Galápagos but on the whole planet; this individual is the symbol for conservation. It is very clear that if we don’t make the right decisions now, some other species may go the same way, not only in Galápagos but other places as well.
We also learned about Super Diego, the male individual that came back from San Diego Zoo in 1972; he joined his population at the breeding center with great success. Española tortoises were very close to extinction when the 14 left in the wild were bought to the breeding center. With the help of Super Diego we now have over 2000 tortoises on Española, breeding in the wild once again.
For the afternoon we headed to the highlands for lunch at a local restaurant with a spectacular view. We also visited a sugar cane compress operated by a local family; here we learned the process of making brown sugar and sugar cane alcohol. In this way we are also supporting the local economy of the Galapagueños.
For the afternoon we went to a private farm with giant tortoises everywhere; this farm was originally a chattel farm, but now is open for visitors to see the tortoises in the wild. Even though the land is private the giants belong to the Galápagos National Park, and the park rules are applied here as well. This visit was made with a bit of rain, making each tortoise carapace very shiny in contrast with the green vegetation.
