Santa Cruz was very lush and green, quite a contrast to the stark volcanic landscape of the past few days. The Prickly pears, (as tall as trees and with orangy red trunks) and the tropical flowers were a pleasant change.
Our first stop was the Twins, two collapsed, vegetated craters, sitting high in the misty sky. From here we went to a tortoise breeding/rearing facility where eggs are collected, reared for 7 years and then released into the wild.
Upwards and onwards to see "lonesome George" the last living tortoise of his species. It was sad to hear that attempts to breed George with a similar species of tortoise were unsuccessful, producing infertile eggs. His death will result in the extinction of another species from the planet.
We did see other species of tortoises that were doing much better. We met Diego, who on the other hand, is quite a "stud". He has sired over 2000 turtles. We were told that it takes almost 30 years for a tortoise to reach sexual maturity. It was only recently that some of his offspring have matured and successfully hatched young - the next generation.
We walked back to pier (all downhill) where the pangas were waiting to transport us back to the Flamingo. We managed to squeeze in a little souvenir shopping along the way. On the boat another fine meal was awaiting our arrival - I am glad that they didn't weigh us before and after the trip!
Kevin got right on our request and had us booked within the week
Linda Cummings
1 day ago
The info on the website was laid out very well. I did some comparisons with other tours and found Adventure Life met a lot of what I wanted in an Antarctica trip at the cheapest price. Requested a quote on Claudia contacted me right away. She answered a lot of questions the I had via email even though she offered to discuss via phone call. I’m more of an email person so appreciated how she accommodated that and answered all my questions. And when I was ready to book, she quickly got the ball rolling with getting our spots reserved on the trip my friend and I wanted. Thanks again, Claudia!
Hazel Araza
1 day ago
(1) great information on the website and throughout all the "materials." (2) Jane Packer is great: knowledgeable, responsive, takes a personal interest and tone, seems to care about the customer as a person not a sale.
Larry Bethune
1 day ago
great people doing a wonderful job to make our voyages happen.
trudy
2 days ago
For our first trip to Costa Rica, Adventure Life designed a tour that meets the interests, ecological and adventure, of our party; but also takes into account our physical limitations sine we are all septuagenarian. We are looking forward to the trip.