Our day began with an exciting wakeup call announcing the celebration of the Fourth of July. By now we have arrived at Santa Cruz Island. Our goal here is to visit the giant tortoise breeding facilities of the Galapagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Research Station. These two institutions have been working on important conservation projects, including the recovery of the giant tortoise population, which by the 1950s and 1960s faced a dim future.
Walking among the corrals of the breeding center, we observed two distinctive-types of tortoise shells. Some individuals had the saddle-backed shape, while others had the dome-type. In a lucky stoke for us, today was feeding day. Heaps of leaves were piled in the various corrals and the tortoises seemed quite happy about this. Many of the babies born in captivity will be repatriated back to their home islands when they reach a suitable age. The ultimate goal is to have them reproduce successfully in the wild.
Afterward, we explored the town of Puerto Ayora before boarding comfortable buses bound for the Santa Cruz highlands. There, we visited a family-run farm established in the late 1940 and learned about the processing of sugar cane, local alcohol and coffee beans.
After a delicious lunch at a cozy restaurant, we returned to our buses and continued further into the agricultural zone of Santa Cruz. We visited a privately owned farm where giant tortoises roam freely. As we walked the various paths, we always had at least one giant tortoise within sight. Most of the tortoises were huge males, each over 500 pounds. Some were feeding on vegetation while others rested under the shade of Cuban cedar trees. We also had a chance to visit a special underground lava tunnel, one of the few double-decker lava tubes still intact.
We had an incredible day, celebrating the Fourth of July with the giants of the enchanted archipelago.
