Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos

The Charles Darwin Research Station which has a significant conservation breeding project to restore the island-specific tortoises is located on Santa Cruz Island.  The highlands offer a view of lush vegetation and moisture at a park where collapsed lava cones were seen. In the lowlands Great Blue herons were on Bachas beach and a lagoon sheltered Greater flamingos. Black Turtle Cove with its red mangroves offered a view of Manta Rays, Sea turtles, young reef sharks, and Cattle egrets that roost in the trees. Puerto Ayora, where the Charles Darwin Research Station is located is the largest human settlement in the Galápagos with about 20,000 residents and about 2,500 in the rural areas of Santa Cruz island.