Charles Darwin Research Center and
Highlands Santa Cruz
Today was one busy day! The ship
anchored off Santa Cruz (also known as Indefatigable) which is home
to giant tortoises. After landing via zodiacs at the town dock, we
boarded a bus for a short ride to the Tortoise Breeding Center
operated by their National Park Service. Since the tortoise
population of the islands was decimated by the whalers of years gone
by, it is their task to re-establish them so that they will not go
extinct. The program has been very successful; we admired the little
babies that were separated by age and island groups.
We then go our
first glimpse of the giant tortoises – large lumbering shy animals
that have 2 different type of shells. One looks like a saddle and
the other, a curved dome. Later, we boarded another bus for a trip to
the lush green highlands. We visited a coffee and sugar cane
plantation called “El Trapiche” and later had lunch at a Narwhal Restaurant, lovely
place in the rain-forest. We then traveled to see the
tortoises in their natural habitat. We donned boots and traipsed
through muddy fields where we discovered quite a few of them slogging along. We are now back on the boat awaiting dinner. It
was quite a fun day and Richard is pleased with the pictures taken.
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