We finally met our guide this morning at 0600 on our way to the airport to fly to the Galapagos Islands but she was only there to ensure we got checked in on the right plane and got through security, after that it was up to us to get to Baltra Island and find our local guide at the airport.
The flight was 2 hours to Baltra and relatively uneventful until we were landing when saw our first Land Iguana who was sunning himself on the edge of the runway - welcome to the Galapagos! We were met at the airport by our local guide and made our way by bus and ferry to Santa Cruz Island, the second largest but most heavily populated island of the archipelago with 20,000 inhabitants. From Santa Cruz we boarded our boat “Yate Darwin” and enjoyed a scrumptious lunch.
After lunch we visited the Darwin Research centre which is the main centre for research into the conservation of the Galapagos as well as breeding programs to ensure the continuation of species that were once near extinction. During the afternoon we were fortunate to see many Giant Galapagos Tortoises which were the first animals seen by the explorers. These tortoises have 2 different shell shapes but the one the explorers saw was saddle shaped and Galapagos means saddle in Spanish so the Islands were named Galapagos. We also saw the famous “Lonesome George” who is the only Tortoise of his kind left and was found on Pinta Island all alone, hence the name. The other animals we saw included baby tortoises at varying stages of development which will later be released back to their home island, as well as land Iguanas. It was a very interesting afternoon and great insight into the dangers and threats that the islands face.
We had a brief look around the centre of the town before boarding our boat again to get settled into our rooms and have dinner.
In bed relatively early as we knew that our sleep would not be the best as the boat was due to set sail from about midnight bound for Rabida Island.
No comments:
Post a Comment