Santa Cruz Island
It was another great morning – much like the one that we had at Puerto Ayora. At the Charles Darwin Research Station Lonesome George showed up early; it was the feeding day for these unique creatures that are characteristic of our islands, living here probably before we were a human race on Mother Earth. These are simply quite amazing animals, their weight can easily rich six hundred pounds, needing seven persons to lift just one. Isn’t that incredible?
But that’s not the only thing we saw; of course the experience is not a complete if we don’t go to the highlands of Santa Cruz for a nice lunch at the old restaurant Altair a tradition for us with many years of good service.
Just when our last guests abandoned the adjacent pool, we boarded buses for our next destination. On our arrival the mist was present at Los Gemelos (which means twins), surrounded by a particular vegetation, the Scalesia Pedunculata. That is one of the nineteen species of this genus existing in our archipelago.
After this visit we moved to Primicias farm, one of the only places where land tortoises are looking for fresh water and green grass all year round, an abundant food supply that forces them to always come back. About five miles away is where most of the female land tortoises lay their eggs because of the soft and dry soil, but they need to come back for the necessary food supply.
When we came back to the National Geographic Polaris a pleasant surprise after dinner waited for us. The local musicians from our town played some traditional music for us, inviting everyone to dance.
It was another great morning – much like the one that we had at Puerto Ayora. At the Charles Darwin Research Station Lonesome George showed up early; it was the feeding day for these unique creatures that are characteristic of our islands, living here probably before we were a human race on Mother Earth. These are simply quite amazing animals, their weight can easily rich six hundred pounds, needing seven persons to lift just one. Isn’t that incredible?
But that’s not the only thing we saw; of course the experience is not a complete if we don’t go to the highlands of Santa Cruz for a nice lunch at the old restaurant Altair a tradition for us with many years of good service.
Just when our last guests abandoned the adjacent pool, we boarded buses for our next destination. On our arrival the mist was present at Los Gemelos (which means twins), surrounded by a particular vegetation, the Scalesia Pedunculata. That is one of the nineteen species of this genus existing in our archipelago.
After this visit we moved to Primicias farm, one of the only places where land tortoises are looking for fresh water and green grass all year round, an abundant food supply that forces them to always come back. About five miles away is where most of the female land tortoises lay their eggs because of the soft and dry soil, but they need to come back for the necessary food supply.
When we came back to the National Geographic Polaris a pleasant surprise after dinner waited for us. The local musicians from our town played some traditional music for us, inviting everyone to dance.
