Santa Cruz Island
Today was our giant land tortoise day! We visited the rearing centre at the Charles Darwin Research Station for our first glimpse of these giant reptiles; we also learned about the efforts that the Galápagos National Park Service (in conjunction with the Charles Darwin Foundation) are making to restore this ancient reptilian dynasty.
Santa Cruz Island holds a town with about fifteen thousand people in it known as Puerto Ayora. This is the “tourism capital” of the Galápagos archipelago and the homebase for many local tour operators. We then strolled through this happy town helping the local economy by purchasing some of the local-made handicrafts. Our buses were already waiting for us at the main town plaza, ready to take us up to the highlands for lunch and for our afternoon activities.
The afternoon was highlighted by the marvellous lush greenery of the local vegetation and of course the land tortoises were having a feast eating plants. A sunny afternoon was our companion while we visited the famous pit craters, a natural geological formation similar to big craters from a volcano, except that these ones are actually sink holes. Finches and mockingbirds were easily spotted during our afternoon walk, giving a delightful time to our birdwatchers on board.
Today was our giant land tortoise day! We visited the rearing centre at the Charles Darwin Research Station for our first glimpse of these giant reptiles; we also learned about the efforts that the Galápagos National Park Service (in conjunction with the Charles Darwin Foundation) are making to restore this ancient reptilian dynasty.
Santa Cruz Island holds a town with about fifteen thousand people in it known as Puerto Ayora. This is the “tourism capital” of the Galápagos archipelago and the homebase for many local tour operators. We then strolled through this happy town helping the local economy by purchasing some of the local-made handicrafts. Our buses were already waiting for us at the main town plaza, ready to take us up to the highlands for lunch and for our afternoon activities.
The afternoon was highlighted by the marvellous lush greenery of the local vegetation and of course the land tortoises were having a feast eating plants. A sunny afternoon was our companion while we visited the famous pit craters, a natural geological formation similar to big craters from a volcano, except that these ones are actually sink holes. Finches and mockingbirds were easily spotted during our afternoon walk, giving a delightful time to our birdwatchers on board.
