Santa Cruz Island
Today we reached the second largest island in the archipelago, Santa Cruz, where we had the opportunity to see the human aspect of Galápagos. Puerto Ayora, the largest town, is home to some 18,000 inhabitants and is the economic hub of the archipelago as well as the headquarters of the Galápagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Research Station.
We started the day by landing at the dock of the Galápagos National Park, the entity ultimately responsible for managing the region, to visit the Tortoise Breeding Centre at the Charles Darwin Research Station, where scientists gather information for the conservation of the islands’ unique biota.
Both institutions work closely with each other and run one of the most significant and successful programs in the ecological restoration of the islands: the giant tortoise breeding program. “Lonesome George,” the only surviving tortoise from Pinta Island, is kept here for breeding purposes and if he dies without producing offspring, his race will vanish forever.
Due to the presence of rats on most of the islands, tortoises in the wild have a hard time reproducing successfully, as hatchlings are immediately eaten by these voracious predators. Every year, tortoise eggs from various islands are transferred carefully to the Breeding Centre to be incubated artificially. The precious baby tortoises are kept until their age and size allows them to be released to their original islands, with no further risk of being eaten or harmed by the rats. So far, more than 5.000 tortoises have been born here, increasing the number of wild populations to healthy numbers.
After visiting the Breeding Centre, we walked back through town, exploring the numerous shops, boutiques and art galleries on probably the most expensive mile in Galápagos!
From the central plaza, buses took us for a 30-minute drive to a charming highland restaurant called “Altair,” but first we stopped for a quick visit at a sugar-cane press to see how local farmers produce sugar cane liquor, brown sugar blocks and organic coffee.
Following lunch, we geared up with rubber boots for the muddy conditions and continued by bus to the property of a Galápagos native, located at the heart of the annual giant tortoise migratory route, to search for these magnificent reptiles in their natural habitat. Several males and females were grazing around and allowed us to spend some time with them.
We also offered a quick visit to a pair of huge pit craters called Los Gemelos, surrounded by a forest of the endemic scalesia trees, one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in the archipelago, where ferns, orchids, and some Darwin's finches were worth looking for.
