Santa Cruz Island
Santa Cruz is a very interesting Galapagos island. It has a bit of everything. This is the place where the headquarters of the Charles Darwin Research Station and the National Park Service are found. This is also the largest inhabited island, with several lovely towns and villages. Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the archipelago, so it has all of the different vegetation zones. There are mangroves along the shoreline and a beautiful forest of giant sunflowers in the highlands. It is an extinct volcano, and several parasitic cones crown it. There are also lava tunnels, and pit craters.
This is the home of one of the largest and healthiest populations of giant tortoises, and not only do we see them in the wild, we also see them at the Charles Darwin Research Center, where we learn as well about the many conservation programs.
Our guests had the chance to do some shopping on Santa Cruz. Those who were missing aerobic exercise rode bicycles to the highlands, or did some jogging or fast walking.
Santa Cruz is an island to satisfy every taste. And for birdwatchers it is a haven too! The island has 9 of the 13 species of Darwin’s finches; it also has vermillion flycatchers, Galapagos flycatchers, Galapagos doves, and Galapagos mockingbirds.
Our guests from National Audubon Society are having a blast with these many endemic species, and their representative, Thomas Hissong, got this incredible picture of the most colorful bird in the whole archipelago, the vermillion flycatcher!
Santa Cruz is a very interesting Galapagos island. It has a bit of everything. This is the place where the headquarters of the Charles Darwin Research Station and the National Park Service are found. This is also the largest inhabited island, with several lovely towns and villages. Santa Cruz is the second largest island in the archipelago, so it has all of the different vegetation zones. There are mangroves along the shoreline and a beautiful forest of giant sunflowers in the highlands. It is an extinct volcano, and several parasitic cones crown it. There are also lava tunnels, and pit craters.
This is the home of one of the largest and healthiest populations of giant tortoises, and not only do we see them in the wild, we also see them at the Charles Darwin Research Center, where we learn as well about the many conservation programs.
Our guests had the chance to do some shopping on Santa Cruz. Those who were missing aerobic exercise rode bicycles to the highlands, or did some jogging or fast walking.
Santa Cruz is an island to satisfy every taste. And for birdwatchers it is a haven too! The island has 9 of the 13 species of Darwin’s finches; it also has vermillion flycatchers, Galapagos flycatchers, Galapagos doves, and Galapagos mockingbirds.
Our guests from National Audubon Society are having a blast with these many endemic species, and their representative, Thomas Hissong, got this incredible picture of the most colorful bird in the whole archipelago, the vermillion flycatcher!
