Santa Cruz, the Galapagos: The most popular tortoise in the Galapagos is Lonesome George.

A national treasure in his own right, the almost 200-pound Pinta tortoise lives at the Charles Darwin Research Station, where researchers hope he will mate and extend the Pinta lineage that is now on the brink of extinction.

Back in 1971 George's presence made him a celebrity since none of his species has been discovered for over six decades. It was after this striking reptile inhabitant, the giant land tortoise, galapago in Spanish, that the islands were named.

Between the 17th and 19th century the gentle giants

They risked further demise by introduced predators (dogs, goats and pigs brought by buccaneers) that devoured the unhatched eggs and defenseless young. Today they are protected by law, yet only 15,000 survivors remain of the once thriving population of 250,000 tortoises on the islands.

Estimated to be between 60 and 70 years old, George would be middle-aged, according to life expectancy rate of his species. The biggest challenge is to locate a Pinta female with the hope that she would strikes George's fancy and produce some offspring.

Already three of the original 14 species from the native islands are extinct, but the Charles Darwin Research Station continues to preserve the tortoise sub-species by breeding them in captivity.

On the 100th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, all of the Galapagos Islands, except settled areas such as Puerto Ayora (Santa Cruz) and Puerto Basquerizo Moreno (San Cristobal) were declared a national park.

Charles Darwin was privileged to view the tortoises and document their behavior in their natural habitat - "One large tortoise, which I watched, walked at the rate of 60 yards in 10 minutes, that is 360 yards in the hour or four miles a day." He even took more than one bumpy ride on the huge creatures as they paraded through the island scrub. - "I frequently got on their backs, and then, giving a few raps on the hinder part of their shells, they would rise up and walk away - but I found it very difficult to keep my balance."

As much as I envy Mr. Darwin's close encounters, I was very ecstatic that our tour included an excursion through the highlands of Santa Cruz, traveling through six vegetation zones to a private farm to observe the giant tortoises.

The coastal areas are covered with shrubs, saltbush, mangroves and grasses. In arid locations there are palo santo trees, cactus, lichens and thorny plants. Tangled shrubs and dense vegetation along with lichens can be found in the transition zone, while cloud forest, mosses, vines and liverworts are common in the scalesia zone. Miconia vegetation includes dense low shrubs, ferns, liverworts and mosses, unlike the pampa region that grows ferns and grass, but they are void of trees and shrubs.

A half-hour drive in a 21-year-old Ford bus took us past elephant grass, orange, banana and avocado trees growing along the smooth, paved highway. The scenic drive continues with more lush growth appearing as we head to Santa Rosa - balandona, pomelos, naranjilla and castor beans.

Trekking through the jungle-like vegetation in search of the tortoises required exchanging our footwear for Wellington boots. The highlands farm is 280 hectares where sightings included the colorful vermilion flycatcher and small billed ani.

We followed our guide, Raul, alongside the farm's owner-turned-guide, deep into the dense bush. He obviously knew the hiding places of these sometimes elusive jungle dwellers, 500-pounders with carapace lengths of four to five feet.

Altogether we saw about a dozen 'giants' and my biggest thrill was to see two of them out in the open bush. Caught unaware, they peered at us inquiringly, but when you least expect it their heads would quickly disappear quickly under the dome like shells.

As we walked by one tortoise drew a giant breath and as if resigned to our presence. Another just kept on chewing clumps of grass unperturbed by a bunch of strangers who kept photographing his imposing bulk from every angle.

After this delightful escapade in the highlands we headed to the lava tunnels (los tuneles) formed by leftover magma flows around the Galapagos. Outwardly the crusts of the molten lava solidified as they cooled, however, inside the liquid streams kept flowing. The flow eventually stopped, creating the fascinating underground tunnels that attract visitors to Santa Cruz.

Inside the dark, cavernous chambers the maze-like tunnels made me think of Alice in Wonderland who fell down the rabbit hole. Like curious Alice I made my way across the thick, lava tubes, mindful of the precarious foothold I encountered with each step I took. Dim light bulbs occasionally shone down on us as we examined the strangely contorted lava bulk stretched out ahead. But there was light midway along the tunnel - there on the right a 'natural window' appeared to extend an open invitation to eager photographers to record the beautiful vista from the bowels of the tunnel.

Another attraction we visited was Los Genelos, "The Twins" outside of Santa Rosa. This pair of craters on either side of the road flourished with ferns, trees and flowers including ageratum, cat's glow, sunflowers and the oldest plant found here, the lycopodium.

As we viewed the crater from the top I was tempted to hum, "Oh what a misty morning" but stopped short to photograph doves with pink feet and Darwin finches flitting from tree to tree, as well as a yellow warbler resting on a fence. Suddenly we saw a beautiful rainbow casting its pastel shades of green, pink and yellow over the misty scene.

How much closer to nature could we get?