We came to Santa Cruz Island ready to learn about the behavior of the largest giant tortoises that inhabit this enchanted archipelago. As we disembarked at the dock, we could see marine iguanas swimming and several brown pelicans in the mangrove forest. Several Darwin’s finches moved from tree to tree, maybe looking for food or a mate. Opuntia cacti of different sizes made an interesting walkway on our path to see the gentle giants.
The Charles Darwin Research Station and the National Park Service created the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center to save the famous giant tortoises of the Galápagos from going extinct. By saving the tortoises, they have also saved many reptiles.
The program started back in the 1960s with the Española subspecies. Their numbers had been going down due to the presence of goats and donkeys introduced to the Island, mammals that ate the vegetation that were the source of food and shelter for the tortoises. After years of research and hard work, the programs have been a 100% success. Today, more than 2,000 young tortoises have been repatriated to their island of origin and are now reproducing in the wild without human intervention. This is the reason why the Galápagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Foundation are among the most respected conservation groups in the world.
In the afternoon, we journeyed to the highlands to see giant tortoises in the wild. The tortoises kept our group excited and busy, with photographers taking pictures they came to the Galápagos for. It was amazing to see the giant tortoises in their natural habitat and a bit of drizzle made the scene even more dramatic. Walking among these incredibly friendly creatures made us feel transported in time … maybe back to centuries ago, when the giant tortoises roamed the islands by themselves.
