Santa Cruz Island
After navigating 120 nautical miles from Punta Espinoza, Fernandina Island and with company of a beautiful sunrise, we reached Santa Cruz Island. This island, one of the four inhabited islands, has the largest population on the archipelago. Approximately 18.000 people live there. Santa Cruz Island is at the same time the center of most of all tourism and economical activity in Galápagos. In this town the headquarters of the National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Foundation are located as well. A visit to these institutions is crucial to understand the very complex relation between the local community, their activities and the conservation efforts that these organizations are doing to keep the delicate balance between a healthy community and the ecosystems they live in.
After landing at the National Park dock, we went on our way to the tortoises breeding center. In this place, we had the chance to see some native and endemic flora species and some of Darwin’s finches. Our guests were impressed by the size of the giant Opuntia cacti and at the amount of different plants found on this dry side of the island.
On arrival to the breeding center, we saw the first group of “galapaguitos,” as we call our baby land tortoises. In separate pens we observed, at close range, individuals from Espanola and from Pinzon Islands. All these juveniles were born under captive conditions just a few months ago, from the eggs collected by the Park rangers on each island.
Baby tortoises are kept in captivity for 3 to 5 years, until they reach a certain size to be released in the wild without being an easy prey for some predators such as introduced rats, feral dogs or cats. The latter animals were introduced by man before the islands were declared a National Park. After seeing the babies, we had a very important appointment with the most famous Galápagos tortoise in the whole World - “Lonesome George,” the only individual still alive from Pinta Island. Despite all the efforts to reproduce this famous tortoise with a couple females very close to him at the genetic level, his lineage is in serious threat, as none of them have been produced viable eggs so far…
Leaving Lonesome George, we headed to the highlands of Santa Cruz, specifically to the Scalesia zone. In this vegetation zone we observed the Pit craters, interesting geological formations, more Darwin finches and a very curious short eared owl looking for a prey. After this visit we went to look for giant tortoises, but this time in the wild, under a very light rain known as garua, confirming the beginning of the cold-dry season.
With the outstanding view of giant tortoises that were seen roaming free on the hills of Santa Cruz, we headed back to our safe and cozy home this week, the National Geographic Endeavour.
