Santa Cruz Island, Charles Darwin Research Station –Highlands

Early in the morning, we disembarked with a dry landing at the pier of Puerto Ayora (the largest of the Galápagos towns). Soon after, we had a bus ride towards the Charles Darwin Research Station, where we walked further into the corrals. Here we learned about the conservation projects that the Station had developed hand in hand with the National Park Service.

At the Charles Darwin Research Station we were also able to see some of their famous inhabitants, such as: Lonesome George (Last Tortoise of his kind), Super Diego (Española Island species savior), and even the hatchlings of the Endemic Giants that soon were going to be repatriated into the wild!
We walked back along the waterfront of Santa Cruz Island. Some of us even stopped by the fishermen pier. It is a very interesting place where they clean their fish, allowing brown pelicans, great blue herons and even some playful sea lion pups to come around the area.

After a 45 minutes bus ride to the highlands of Santa Cruz, we could observe how the different vegetation zones were changing from dry to green and with more canopy. We had a great chance to explore a lava tube, some of us even walking all the way through it, while others just observing the entrance of it.

A delicious lunch was served at a restaurant up in the highlands. Soon we began another adventure further into the island. With the company of some rain, we walked through the grasslands encountering giant tortoises in the wild, some of them hiding behind the “Elephant grass “, while others were found mating.

Our trip was also complemented with a very outstanding landscape, the pit craters, which are collapses of the magma chamber. This area is surrounded by a great variety of endemic and native vegetation such as, Scalecia trees, Wild orchids, endemic pasifloras, and besides the plants this area is also one of the common habitats of the wood-pecker finch.

After a great adventure we headed back to the National Geographic Islander!