Santa Cruz Island
The Galápagos Archipelago is the realm of the Giant Land Tortoises. Tortoises were abused for many years, becoming the food and oil source for pirates, buccaneers, and early settlers. They killed so many that these unique reptiles were almost driven to complete extinction.
Thanks to the efforts of the Ecuadorian Government and the support of the international scientific community, the islands were surveyed in the late nineteen sixties after the islands were declared the first National Park in Ecuadorian territory.
The conclusions they came to, about the populations of land tortoises, were pretty devastating. Three subspecies had become extinct because of human predation.
The Park Service and the research station started a rearing centre to grow land tortoises in captivity and somehow try to restore the dynasty of these gentle giants, They have achieved a great milestone which is to produce and repatriate several thousands of them to their islands of origin.
This morning we visited the rearing center, where we witnessed the wonderful work the park rangers and researchers have done, and continue to do every day, with the little hatchlings and the grown up tortoises. This is the most successful program, growing wild animals in captivity, all aver the world.
In the afternoon, we visited the highlands of Santa Cruz, where we saw pit craters, lava tunnels and tortoises in the wild. We also saw many land birds. These were only some of the highlights of our day.
