Santa Cruz Island
Today we arrived at the second largest island in Galápagos, Santa Cruz, situated in the middle of the archipelago. Our day began visiting the breeding center of the giant tortoises in the Charles Darwin Research Station. We observed quite a lot of baby tortoises in their pens being fed by their caretakers. These hatchlings will be released at the age of four years old onto the islands where they came from. Another of the very important programs in the rearing center is of the endangered Galápagos land iguanas in captivity.
Our afternoon was just amazing. Most of us went up to the highlands to visit the gemelos or sink holes. Around this amazingly lush area we enjoyed the wonderful scenery made of endemic plants such as the Scalesia.
Afterwards we went to the Tortoise Preserve. Some of the tortoises we found here were resting under the trees, while others were walking around the area eating different kinds of vegetation. We were greatly surprised when we suddenly saw two vermillion flycatchers sitting nearby. One of them disappeared quickly and appeared sitting on the shell of the nearest tortoise! It was there for a long time and my group had lots of time to take many photos of this rare land bird.
Later in the afternoon we headed back to the main town of Puerto Ayora. In the evening we were visited by a group of local musicians called “Eco Arte”, and we ended up dancing the evening away. Another fascinating day was coming to a close.
Today we arrived at the second largest island in Galápagos, Santa Cruz, situated in the middle of the archipelago. Our day began visiting the breeding center of the giant tortoises in the Charles Darwin Research Station. We observed quite a lot of baby tortoises in their pens being fed by their caretakers. These hatchlings will be released at the age of four years old onto the islands where they came from. Another of the very important programs in the rearing center is of the endangered Galápagos land iguanas in captivity.
Our afternoon was just amazing. Most of us went up to the highlands to visit the gemelos or sink holes. Around this amazingly lush area we enjoyed the wonderful scenery made of endemic plants such as the Scalesia.
Afterwards we went to the Tortoise Preserve. Some of the tortoises we found here were resting under the trees, while others were walking around the area eating different kinds of vegetation. We were greatly surprised when we suddenly saw two vermillion flycatchers sitting nearby. One of them disappeared quickly and appeared sitting on the shell of the nearest tortoise! It was there for a long time and my group had lots of time to take many photos of this rare land bird.
Later in the afternoon we headed back to the main town of Puerto Ayora. In the evening we were visited by a group of local musicians called “Eco Arte”, and we ended up dancing the evening away. Another fascinating day was coming to a close.
