Santiago, Puerto Egas and Rábida

Darwin spent about a week on Santiago in October 1835. He wrote that he could not find space for his tent, because of all the iguanas' holes in the ground.

The path goes from soft volcanic tuff (rock made of ash) to hard basalt rock. The rock pools by the sea fill and empty with the tide through tunnels in the rock. People call one of them "Darwin's Toilet".

The shady caves are among the best places in the islands to meet the Galápagos fur seal, the shy cousin of the sea lion.

Here are the remains of a salt mine. It worked here twice in the 20th century and was closed both times. Salt from the mainland cost less than digging salt here and sending it by sea.

The red color comes from iron in the lava that reacts with the air. It is the same process that makes metal rust, but here it colors a whole island.

A tiny island of about 4.5 km². It has a red beach, a salt-water lagoon and lava cliffs around a single bay.

Brown pelicans nest here in the low bushes by the shore. In the lagoon, flamingos eat brine shrimp, tiny animals that turn them pink.