Giant Tortoises

Santa Cruise - Tortoises, Re-foresting the Island and Local Dancers

For our last day of activities all of the guests on the Flora traveled by tender to the small port in Santa Cruise where we picked up buses that took us to an area that is being re-forested to help eliminate some of the invasive tree species that almost caused the scarlet flycatcher to go extinct. We put on boots and walked out to a prepared site where we each got to plant 2 trees.

After returning to the bus we made our way to the Manzanillo Ranch where giant tortoises roam freely. We got to see a number of tortoises in their natural habitat and a few along the dirt road that our bus needed to avoid. The ranch has a restaurant where we got to try some local food and drinks. At the end of our meal we were entertained by some students who performed traditional Ecuadorian dances. Before we departed we had time for shopping at the small shop where they sell gifts and food items made in the Galapagos. We purchased a bottle of passion fruit moonshine and a few other souvenirs to bring home. While eating lunch the skies opened up. It was only the second time we’d encountered heavy rain in the past week and luckily for us we didn’t get caught in it this time. Upon returning to the ship we had a little time before dinner to relax and begin packing for our departure the following morning.