Santa Cruz Island
We began today by visiting the island of Santa Cruz. Located in the central area of the archipelago, it has the largest town, and at the same time is considered to be the economical capital of the islands.
We went ashore after a very delicious breakfast to the world famous Charles Darwin Research Center where for many years great efforts have taken place to save the unique Galápagos giant tortoises, with very successful results. We enjoyed seeing the tortoises and Galápagos land iguanas as they were fed by their keepers. This morning in particular, the land iguanas were extremely interested in each other, as it is still breeding season for them.
After our morning in the Darwin Center we went to the town of Puerto Ayora, and many of our guests spent time observing the life of the locals on this beautiful small town.
Lunch was in the highlands, and in order to get there we used some of the local buses and those who wanted to get some fresh air walked part-way while others went on bikes up to the restaurant. The temperature couldn’t have been better, and we really enjoyed our time in the highlands. For the afternoon, we drove further up to the Scalesia forest which was full of life; there were woodpecker finches looking for insects, and some very lucky guests had a very close encounter with the vermillion flycatcher (seen in the picture). The males have bright red coloring, in contrast with the females that are brown and yellow. The Galápagos giant tortoises were also a big attraction in their natural habitat, as they were spotted walking, mud bathing, and feeding around the grassy area where they spend their time.
We began today by visiting the island of Santa Cruz. Located in the central area of the archipelago, it has the largest town, and at the same time is considered to be the economical capital of the islands.
We went ashore after a very delicious breakfast to the world famous Charles Darwin Research Center where for many years great efforts have taken place to save the unique Galápagos giant tortoises, with very successful results. We enjoyed seeing the tortoises and Galápagos land iguanas as they were fed by their keepers. This morning in particular, the land iguanas were extremely interested in each other, as it is still breeding season for them.
After our morning in the Darwin Center we went to the town of Puerto Ayora, and many of our guests spent time observing the life of the locals on this beautiful small town.
Lunch was in the highlands, and in order to get there we used some of the local buses and those who wanted to get some fresh air walked part-way while others went on bikes up to the restaurant. The temperature couldn’t have been better, and we really enjoyed our time in the highlands. For the afternoon, we drove further up to the Scalesia forest which was full of life; there were woodpecker finches looking for insects, and some very lucky guests had a very close encounter with the vermillion flycatcher (seen in the picture). The males have bright red coloring, in contrast with the females that are brown and yellow. The Galápagos giant tortoises were also a big attraction in their natural habitat, as they were spotted walking, mud bathing, and feeding around the grassy area where they spend their time.
