Santa Cruz Island
Today we visited the charming town of Puerto Ayora located on Santa Cruz Island, home of the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS). We spent part of our morning visiting and learning about the most emblematic creatures of the archipelago, the Galápagos giant tortoises and the Galápagos land iguanas.
After walking through a forest of giant prickly pear cactus, we found the pens where baby tortoises are kept, safe from introduced predators and the strong equatorial sun. These babies are carefully fed and protected until they reach certain weight or body size, large enough to be release back to the wild.
Volunteers take care of the youngsters, while others look after the adults under the careful supervision of full time personnel. The giant tortoise rearing center was named after Mr. Fausto Llerena, who has worked in this program for more than thirty years at the CDRS.
After we visited the center we headed towards town to explore its colorful streets and the Galapagueño lifestyle; we did support the local economy, as the colorful stores had plenty of souvenirs for us all.
During the afternoon (after a delicious lunch in the highlands), we looked for wild tortoises with great success! We then headed to the pit craters which is a place with a gorgeous view, completely surrounded by a Galápagos giant daisy (Scalesia) forest. The songs of several finches, mockingbirds and other species of birds accompanied us along the whole afternoon. What a day!
Today we visited the charming town of Puerto Ayora located on Santa Cruz Island, home of the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS). We spent part of our morning visiting and learning about the most emblematic creatures of the archipelago, the Galápagos giant tortoises and the Galápagos land iguanas.
After walking through a forest of giant prickly pear cactus, we found the pens where baby tortoises are kept, safe from introduced predators and the strong equatorial sun. These babies are carefully fed and protected until they reach certain weight or body size, large enough to be release back to the wild.
Volunteers take care of the youngsters, while others look after the adults under the careful supervision of full time personnel. The giant tortoise rearing center was named after Mr. Fausto Llerena, who has worked in this program for more than thirty years at the CDRS.
After we visited the center we headed towards town to explore its colorful streets and the Galapagueño lifestyle; we did support the local economy, as the colorful stores had plenty of souvenirs for us all.
During the afternoon (after a delicious lunch in the highlands), we looked for wild tortoises with great success! We then headed to the pit craters which is a place with a gorgeous view, completely surrounded by a Galápagos giant daisy (Scalesia) forest. The songs of several finches, mockingbirds and other species of birds accompanied us along the whole afternoon. What a day!
