Santa Cruz Highlands

About the site

Santa Cruz Highlands

The highlands of Santa Cruz are the green heart of the Galápagos and the best place to see giant tortoises living in the wild. Most cruises visit them on the first or last day, on the road between Baltra and Puerto Ayora, or as a half-day excursion from the town.

As the road climbs, the dry coastal scrub gives way to the moist Scalesia forest, where mosses and ferns hang from tree-sized relatives of the daisy, and vermilion flycatchers and Darwin's finches flash between the branches. In the farmland around Santa Rosa, private reserves such as El Chato protect the routes the tortoises use to travel between the coast and the highlands. Here the giant tortoises graze in the pastures and wallow in muddy ponds, and you can walk among them, always keeping the park's distance of two meters.

The visit usually includes a walk through a lava tunnel, a tube left by a river of lava that cooled on the outside while the molten rock kept flowing inside. Some of these tunnels are several hundred meters long.

The highlands are cooler and wetter than the coast, especially from June to November, when the garúa mist often settles in. Rubber boots are usually provided for the muddy trails, and a light rain jacket is useful.

Highlights

• Panoramic View
• Birdwatching
• Giant Tortoises
• Lava Tunnel