Permitted Uses:   Educational Visits    Photography and filming

Working hours of the Galapagos National Park Service (GNPS) and the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) are: Monday through Friday from 7am to 12pm and from 1pm to 4pm. The Van Straelen interpretation center stays open until 5:00 pm. 

The tour starts at the information booth of the GNP, a place where you can obtain information necessary to resolve any concerns. It is the where you'll find travel reports. Passengers who have not yet purchased their park entrance passes can do so here. The trail continues to the Van Straelen interpretation Center, then to the breeding center and from there begins an elevated circular path made of wood, where you can see Lonesome George and tortoises of Española Island, ending in the tortoise exhibit corral. Tortoises of this corral are accustomed to humans; it is an excellent spot for visitors to be photographed with them. Always remind your visitors not to touch them and not to step on the platform where they're food is placed. The path continues to the CDRS facilities and then to the town of Puerto Ayora. 

It is absolutely forbidden to jump walls or open the pen doors in the Galapagos. 

There is a CDRS souvenir kiosk: the funds raised here are to support conservation and research programs. 

There are public bathrooms at the Breeding Center and at the Van Straelen Center. 

The Galapagos breeding program is conducted by GNP staff with the collaboration of scientists from the CDRS. The eggs are brought from the Galapagos Islands of Pinzón, Santiago and Santa Cruz to the station. The eggs are incubated artificially; the galapaguitos are born and reared until the age of 5 years, when they can survive the effects of introduced predators (rats, pigs and dogs). Then they are returned to their native areas. Since 1970, more than 2000 galapaguitos have returned to the native areas. Over 400 are in breeding and will promptly be returned to their place of origin. For this to succeed, it needs the corresponding control programs and eradication of non-native animals to continue. A good example of success that this program can have is Española Island. The entire population of Galapagos tortoises of this island, two males and twelve females, were brought to the station for the captive breeding program, since their number was so low that they could not find each other on the field. In 1976, a third male from Española was sent from San Diego Zoo, USA, to be added to the program. Over 1000 galapaguitos of this race have been returned to Española, an island that can now be considered free of non-native animals, due to the eradication of goats in 1978. It should be noted that the galapaguitos from Española are repatriated at one and a half years old now that there is no danger. (For details see Gardner Bay). Great effort and many financial resources are needed to achieve results like those of Española on other sites.

Following the devastating depredation that wild dogs have caused the populations of land iguanas, Conolophus subcristatus, in Santa Cruz and Isabela, in 1976 the Station and the GNPS began a breeding program for these reptiles. At present, iguanas have been repatriated to Cerro Carthage in Isabela, but with little success because the place still has wild dogs; on the other hand, iguanas repatriated in Conway and Dragon Hill seem to have been well established, but they are very shy and elusive. There is also a iguana breeding program at North Seymour Island, originally from Baltra, without reproductive success for many years, when the program began there was only an adult population. Since 1991, through an agreement between the SAF, the Park and the Station, iguanas have been repatriated to Baltra. So far, their survival has been successful. 

The amateur naturalist, Allan Hancock, intentionally introduced Baltra land iguanas to North Seymour in the early '30s. Hancock, an eccentric American millionaire visited the archipelago several times on board his yacht "Valero III", whose graffiti can be seen in the gorge of Darwin Bay in Genovesa, from the beach. Hancock noted the absence of these reptiles in North Seymour, despite the distance that separates Baltra was easy to overcome for the iguanas. He decided to carry about 70 iguanas from one island to another. He returned the following year and found that the iguanas on North Seymour were fine, but probably by limited availability of land for nesting, recruitment was not higher. Meanwhile, feral goats continued to represent strong competition for the remaining iguanas on Baltra. This, together with the establishment of a U.S. military base during World War II, altering their habitat, led to the disappearance of land iguanas on Baltra Island. It's worth noting that this is the largest race of the species Conolophus subcristatus.

The GNPS is the government body responsible for the management and administration of both the land area of Galapagos National Park and the Galapagos Marine Reserve. The GNPS has to manage and implement programs of protection and conservation of endangered species and work to maintain the ecological integrity of the Park in general. The Marine Reserve, declared in 1986 originally as the Marine Resources Reserve, changed its name and extension following the enactment of the Special Law for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Province of Galapagos, 18th of March 1998. This area of 40 nautical miles, measured from the baseline, makes it the second largest reserve in the world (the first being the Great Barrier Reef in Australia), and innovative in the country for forming a participatory management program. 

The main function of the CDRS is to promote scientific research in the islands and the associated logistics. This research forms the basis of any conservation program. It also has a commitment to assist in the training of scientists from Ecuador. The station is directly dependent on the Darwin Foundation, an international body that collects economic funds from different parts of the world for conservation programs and advice to the GNP.