The Galapagos Islands attractions surprise us as days pass by, and today we had another taste of it by visiting the center of the archipelago. Santa Cruz Island is one of the most symbolic of all islands we find in the Galapagos, and a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station was the best way to begin our day’s journey. The first stop of the visit was to enjoy and learn about the baby tortoises. We got a chance to witness how the breeding program starts with very little baby tortoises that in the future will become tremendously big. Further into the visit, we had the opportunity to seeing the adults; particularly those of Española Island.
The Española breeding program is consider one of the most successful restoration projects of the research station, as most of the population has been reinstated; but the program would not have been so effective without a very important inhabitant: Diego from the San Diego zoo. The visit continued to astonish us with the breeding program for land iguanas. We had a marvelous experience learning about restoration efforts to bring the land iguana reign back to the modern era. At the end of the visit we had a delightful time in town, as we experienced the everyday living of the Galapagueño community.
We had great treasures awaiting us in the afternoon, during our visit to the giant tortoise reserve in the highlands of Santa Cruz. A marvelous sky was the perfect match for the beautiful color displays of nature, as we witnessed the splendor of dozens of giant tortoises found all over the area. We had the opportunity to see big males feeding on plants like a delicacy of nature.
On our way back to Puerto Ayora, we enjoyed a comfortable bus ride that took us through the vegetation zones from the highlands to the shore. The end of the exploration was marked by a magical sunset, hinting at the surprises that await us tomorrow in this Galapagos paradise.
