Before disembarking, as we got to the dock, we could see several brown pelicans on the mangrove forest and marine iguanas swimming. Darwin’s finches hopped from tree to tree, maybe looking for a mate or maybe for food. Opuntias of different sizes made an interesting walkway on our path to see the gentle giants, the giant tortoises.
The Charles Darwin Research Station and the Galapagos National Park Service operate the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center. As partners, the two have managed to save the giant tortoises of the Galapagos from going extinct. By saving the tortoises they have also saved many reptiles.
Back in the 1960s, the captive breeding program began with the Española sub species. Their numbers were going down due to the presence of goats and donkeys introduced to the island, mammals that ate all the vegetation leaving the tortoises without food and shelter. 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. Due to the successful project, the Galapagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Foundation are now two of the most respected conservation institutions in the world.
We spent the afternoon in the Santa Cruz highlands, where the search for giant tortoises in the wild kept our groups excited and busy. It was amazing to see them in their natural habitat, and photographers were able to take the pictures they have come all the way to the islands for. A bit of drizzle made the scene very dramatic. Walking among these incredible friendly creatures made as feel transported in time… maybe back a hundred years, when the tortoises roamed the islands by themselves.
