Galapagos Islands - Giant Tortoises & Iguana habitats
We start the modern Galapagos Islands area with a very large giant tortoise habitat and a static habitat for a grand cayman blue iguana, lots of rockwork, static statues and "native" galapagos island foliage spread throughout the area as zoo guests travel to the only galapagos islands themed area in any zoo.
To make things a little easier, let's start with a birds eye view of the completed portion of the galapagos islands so far. The main centerpiece is the 2600m2 Galapagos giant tortoise habitat with plenty of outdoor and indoor viewing areas to hopefully see the tortoises at any point of the habitat. We start the tour in the upper left where the entrance is located and go in a clockwise direction into the building.
The entrance to the galapagos islands is definitely a unique one, a rusty metal signboard features the area name and decorated with statues of animals we could find in the galapagos islands. At the bottom are iguana statues, and above ontop of the rocks is a magnificent frigatebird. Custom made galapagos prickly pear cactus (from the workshop) are placed amongst the rocks.
Surrounded by rocks, large sign boards welcome guests to the galapagos islands and leads us to the outdoor viewing area for the giant tortoise habitat. So tortoise shells are found here where guests can squeeze inside the shell and get a fun photo-op.
The giant tortoise habitat is really big, there are 10 tortoises living here and even with the high number of tortoises, the numbers are always spread out creating a feel of a wild landscape. Hilly terrain, lots of volcanic rocks and large oak trees are all key features of the habitat. The barriers use the natural method of large logs preventing the tortoises from escaping, the fence we see is really just a path barrier for the guests.
The second viewing area of the outdoor viewing overlooks the pool of the habitat. Tortoises can often be found travelling through this area from food to water placement. The keeper hut is located out of view to the right around the rocks, we can just see a tiny part of the backstage fence. That's what I call great habitat design, staff buildings in sight = hurts immersion.
Turning away from the tortoise habitat, we travel to the next section of this area. An indoor building (really the start of the main galapagos building), called "Where reptiles rule" features the indoor viewing for the tortoise habitat and iguana habitat. Another large sign briefly educates guests on the impacts on galapagos wildlife.
Inside the building, a modern interior features 2 viewing areas on each side. Using the picture postion, we have the tortoise habitat to the right, and blue iguana habitat to the left.
On the left, a sandy/rocky habitat for iguanas really brings out what #freetheiguana could look like. Get out of the exhibit box and live in a spacious rocky habitat where it might not move much but it feels so much better. Easy to read signage educates guests on the threats invasive species bring to the islands and stating these iguanas are not from the galapagos islands but from grand cayman island in the Caribbean.
On the other side, we also get a sign telling us that these tortoises are not from the galapagos but from other US zoos and organizations. The view into the habitat looks into the cave shelter where the tortoises can be seen sleeping and a great long view down the middle of the tortoise habitat. We can also see the signs are in both english and spanish, hopefully it is the right translation lol
And one final picture of the tortoises exploring their habitat.