Santa Cruz Island
The Galápagos giant tortoises certainly are a highlight for any visitor. These reptiles are the main conservation icon here, and they create a lot of excitement during an expedition in the Galápagos. Today we landed at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island for the activities of the day. It was a nice morning with a warm gentle breeze typical at this time of the year.
Santa Cruz is a large island with a large human population. Here we have the Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galápagos National Park Offices. These institutions are in charge of the management of the conservation programs of the Galápagos Islands. Conservation happens in fields such as terrestrial and marine environments.
It was morning at the time we visited the Darwin Station, and we had the great surprise of meeting Lonesome George! This individual is the last tortoise surviving from Pinta Island; unfortunately the rest of them were taken as food by the early voyagers such as whale hunters, seal hunters and fishermen. Today a great effort is carried out in order to restore the different populations of tortoises that were affected in the past by human related activities.
In the afternoon we headed to the highlands of Santa Cruz in order to explore the region. A lava tunnel was the first place we visited; we walked through this lava formation admiring the power of volcanoes in the process of formation of the island. Later on we visited the giant tortoise’s territory. These giant reptiles spend most of their lives in the green forests of Santa Cruz. Here they find fresh seasonal grass and ponds to drink and wallow. This island has nearly eight thousand tortoises, which clearly shows that these reptiles are doing well nowadays. During the visit we certainly saw many; some of them resting, others walking slowly and many more eating and wallowing.
It really was a fantastic experience!
