Santa Cruz Island
It is Wednesday, our fifth day in the Galápagos, and we stayed the whole day on Santa Cruz Island, located in the central part of the archipelago.
In the morning we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station, where we could see the breeding center of giant tortoises walking really close to full grown giant tortoises and little hatchlings.
In the afternoon after a wonderful lunch in a local lodge, we went to explore the highlands of Santa Cruz, after all these days where we have seen mainly desertic islands we had the chance to walk trough lush forest full of endemic plants and Darwin’s finches, we also walked trough the migration route of the giant tortoises having the opportunity to spot many in the wild; this was a very special moment since this particular endemic variety of tortoise is considered to be one of the largest ones in the Galápagos Islands.
All of us came back from our visit with a lot of highlights, probably the most remarkable one was the experience that we had at the Charles Darwin Research Station to see Lonesome George (the last tortoise of its kind) together with his two companions. We heard that all of his eggs are doing well, and if everything goes right he will become a dad within three and a half months; this is exciting news after 30 years of fruitless effort from the research station to mate George.
After a full day on Santa Cruz, visiting its wild life and also its people (since we walked through town), we all came back on board ready for our recap and looking forward to what is next!
It is Wednesday, our fifth day in the Galápagos, and we stayed the whole day on Santa Cruz Island, located in the central part of the archipelago.
In the morning we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station, where we could see the breeding center of giant tortoises walking really close to full grown giant tortoises and little hatchlings.
In the afternoon after a wonderful lunch in a local lodge, we went to explore the highlands of Santa Cruz, after all these days where we have seen mainly desertic islands we had the chance to walk trough lush forest full of endemic plants and Darwin’s finches, we also walked trough the migration route of the giant tortoises having the opportunity to spot many in the wild; this was a very special moment since this particular endemic variety of tortoise is considered to be one of the largest ones in the Galápagos Islands.
All of us came back from our visit with a lot of highlights, probably the most remarkable one was the experience that we had at the Charles Darwin Research Station to see Lonesome George (the last tortoise of its kind) together with his two companions. We heard that all of his eggs are doing well, and if everything goes right he will become a dad within three and a half months; this is exciting news after 30 years of fruitless effort from the research station to mate George.
After a full day on Santa Cruz, visiting its wild life and also its people (since we walked through town), we all came back on board ready for our recap and looking forward to what is next!
