Santa Cruz Island
We have arrived to one of the most populated islands of the Galapagos. Santa Cruz Island is home to one of the most green and lush areas of the archipelago. It seemed like it had been misting lately, and these weather conditions create an amazing habitat for all of the land life, especially the flora of the Galapagos and all the other species that depend on it.
After breakfast we visited the breeding center of the National Park Service, where we could observe step by step how the rearing programs of giant tortoises work successfully. All guests were surprised to see so many baby tortoises that were about to be released back in to the wild. Big adult tortoises were also found, the one the caught everyone’s attention was a male tortoise from Española Island named Diego, who was given back to Galápagos by the San Diego zoo. He came with the mission to help us save the critically endangered Española tortoises, for that reason he got the nickname of Super Diego, this famous tortoise is one of the fathers of nearly 2000 tortoises that have been already released back to Española Island.
Shortly after arriving to our restaurant in the highlands, most of us walked through a giant lava tunnel with plenty of interesting geological features.
After lunch, our guests went to explore the highlands looking for giant tortoises, the vegetation in the area was very different to what we have experienced in the other islands, with so many fresh water puddles. There was no doubt that we were in the true habitat of the Galapagos giant reptiles like the tortoises that had evolved over 13 million years on these islands.
