Santa Cruz Island
We began early in the morning with a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park headquarters, one of the world’s most famous places because of the giant tortoise breeding programs go all the way back to 1964. Today was different; not a day of marine animals and birds, rather it was a day of highlands and giant tortoises, the emblematic creature that gave the name to these islands.
After visiting and learning about the breeding center, we enjoyed a stroll through the clean and pleasant town of Puerto Ayora where there was a chance for shopping and snapping photos along the way. A busy place along the main road was the fishermen’s pier where recently caught fish were being fileted and sold, while brown pelicans, a great blue heron, magnificent frigate birds and the occasional sea lion looked on expectantly.
We had a full afternoon hiking in search of giant tortoises in the wild. We were fortunate to find between six and eight of these slow moving reptiles, some resting, others feeding or moving through the tall grasses. Everyone took plenty of tortoise photos and then we continued driving up the island to “Los Gemelos.” These twin pit craters are surrounded by a Scalesia forest; giant sunflower trees that are found only in Galápagos. We identified a woodpecker finch, Galápagos flycatchers, tree finches and found ferns, orchids and many epiphytes in the thorny shrubs.
There was something very special about today was our contact with the local Ecuadorian people, and our guests had the opportunity to see the other face of Galápagos – the human element.
