Giant tortoises in the Highlands of Santa Cruz, Galapagos
- A Wandering Doc
- Jan 10
- 2 min read
A must do while you were on the island of Santa Cruz in the Galapagos is a day trip to visit the Highlands. The trip includes a short hike to the twin sinkholes that are several hundred feet deep. From there you hike in ancient lava tubes. I will write up our experience with the sinkholes and lava tubes in another post because the star of the show is the giant tortoises and they deserve a stage of their own.
You have your choice to visit two different ranches that are filled with tortoises. El Charro is the more popular ranch and boasts the longest lava tube. We elected to visit Primicia Ranch, which has a shorter lava tube, but a much more natural landscape for the tortoise habitat.
Rumor has it that the tortoises at Primicia are larger, but it’s important to note that these tortoises are not in captivity, they are free range. They come and go at will. The females will leave the Highlands to lay eggs near the beach and even the males will leave at times of bad weather.
Regardless, what ranch you decide to visit, you must hire a guide to walk you through the forest and landscape of the tortoise habitat. The cost for the guy is approximately $10 per person and in my opinion worth every penny our guide’s name was Cesar, and he taught us so much about the life of the giant tortoise.
We happen to be visiting the Highlands during the tortoise mating season. Let’s just say they weren’t shy. Because it was mating season the ranch was absolutely filled with tortoises. We estimated that we saw over 200 in just the small area of the ranch that we walked around.
You can book a formal tour of the Highlands in Santa Cruz but it’s super easy to do this on your own. Hire a taxi driver to take you to the sinkholes and the ranch. The driver will wait for you while you tour the ranch withthe guide you have hired. There is no need to hire a guide ahead of time. You may need to wait a few minutes for a guide that speaks English, but the ranch is easy to visit without a formal organized tour.
Total cost for the day was $80 for both of us. $50 for the taxi driver with a five dollar tip. $10 per person for a Guide with a five dollar tip. I’ve read that you can get a taxi driver for less than $50, but we didn’t want to haggle. In my opinion $80 was an excellent value for everything that we experienced today.
Note- i will write up the lava tubes and the sink hole experience in another post, but all highland tours seem to come with the same three stops- you’re only choice is which ranch that you want to visit. We actually had such a great time today in the Highlands that we are going to rent bikes and visit another ranch on the other side of the island tomorrow.
Great experience for that price! So many tortoises were just hanging out on the roads when we went. Just had to wait until they moved along. Beautiful creatures. Did you learn about Lonesome George?