Wild Tortoises and Lava Tubes

Today we took two taxis to the Highlands of Santa Cruz Island, our home island. 
We experienced our first SLOW Galapagacian traffic...



In the Highlands, closer to the National Park, the tortoises are wild and roam everywhere.  In some cases, since tortoises eat everything and plow down vegetation in their path, it is difficult for the farmers, so they've welcomed tourists onto their properties (for a fee) to come see the tortoises. They truly are everywhere! (I wonder if tourists would pay to see our deer??? ;-) ).



We also explored some of the amazing volcanic structures created during the formation of the island. We saw two huge collapse craters caused by the cave-in of a giant magma bubbles. These immense calderas were blanketed in mist and fog that seems to constantly shroud the top of the island.



The island is also riddled with lava tubes - tunnels created by lava flows that have drained to leave only the rock casement.  We walked through a smallish one on one of the farms.  Then we trekked the Tunel del Amor - the 2nd largest lava tube in the world. It is 2km long, but only a length of 1km is open for the public.  This natural tunnel is vast enough for a train to pass through.  


It was quite extraordinary.

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