Santiago Island: Lava Fields, Fur Seals, and Darwin’s Campsite

The Black Sand Beach and Coastal Trail

Puerto Egas is named for Héctor Egas, who once operated a salt extraction company here in the 1960s. His business failed, as with every previous attempt at human settlement on Santiago. The national park has since reclaimed the site. Its black-sand beach is surrounded by volcanic rock, with two paths leading to two different landscapes.

The coastal trail follows the shoreline to the south. It leads to the fur seal grottos, through rocky benches and tidal pools. Along the way, visitors can see marine iguanas sunbathing on the volcanic lava and American oystercatchers searching for food in the pools. Sally Lightfoot crabs, hermit crabs, and small fish are also commonly seen, caught by the receding tide. Here, the soft early morning light enhances the contrast between the dark lava and green water.

For visitors who are willing to leave the shoreline, the inland trail (about 3 km) leads to Salt Mine Crater. This site is a volcanic cavity that has a seasonal salt-water lagoon where flamingos sometimes gather. Galápagos hawks also fly around the slopes.

Fur Seal Grottos: A Rare Coastal Encounter

The Galápagos fur seals (Arctocephalus galapagoensis) are found in the grottos at the end of Puerto Egas’ coastal trail. Upon closer look, travelers can instantly differentiate them from sea lions by size alone.

The Galápagos fur seal is smaller than the sea lion, with females averaging 1.3 m and 27 kg and males reaching 1.5 m and 64 kg. Its head is broader and shorter, and its eyes are larger, adapted to hunting in dim light. The ears protrude more, making them more noticeable, and the front flippers are relatively large, ideal for the rocky ledges and narrow spaces where it rests along the coast.

Fur seals are nocturnal hunters, diving for fish and squid in the marine reserve. During the day, they rest at the grottos, underneath the cool, shaded spaces near the rocks. Their choice of habitat makes them harder to spot than sea lions. This rugged coastline is the kind that tourists pass by quickly, but the trail at Puerto Egas brings them to the grottos.

These animals are listed as Endangered. The population of Galápagos fur seals had declined sharply due to commercial hunting in the 19th century. Although they have since recovered, the species remains vulnerable to El Niño events that disrupt its food supply.

Tidal Pool Life

The tidal pools along the Puerto Egas coastline support a variety of intertidal species, including four-eyed blennies, gobies, sea urchins, and Sally Lightfoot crabs (Grapsus grapsus), whose bright red and orange shells stand out against the black lava. Reef herons can often also be seen waiting at the edges of the pools. Seawater fills the pools at high tide, while at low tide, fish and other marine life are revealed.

How the Damage Took Place

In the 1800s, sailors who used the island as a provisioning stop brought goats, pigs, and donkeys to Santiago. These animals were deliberately left behind to breed and provide food for future visitors or castaways. The consequence was catastrophic.

Feral goats were particularly destructive, as they also fed on seedlings and bark. Without natural predators on the island, their numbers grew rapidly. Over the following decades, grazing damaged the woodlands in Santiago’s highlands, thereby reducing the vegetation that land iguanas, giant tortoises, and native birds depended on

Pigs caused a different kind of problem, but just as devastating. They rooted through the ground and ate tortoise eggs. By the time the Galápagos National Park was established in 1959, Santiago’s giant tortoise population had fallen to around 500. Nesting proved to be unsuccessful, as pigs raided the nests. Rangers eventually built rock walls around natural nests as a temporary way to protect them.

Project Isabela: A Large-Scale Goat Eradication

Project Isabela began in 1997 as a joint program of the Galápagos National Park and the Charles Darwin Foundation to remove goats, pigs, and donkeys from northern Isabela, Santiago, and Pinta. Santiago served as a testing site for conservation teams to develop and refine eradication methods before applying them to the other islands.

The removal of pigs began first, with more than 18,000 pigs eliminated from Santiago. In 2000, the island was declared free of pigs, officially confirmed in 2004. Goat eradication began in 2001 through ground hunting, helicopter operations, and the use of an innovative worldwide conservation technique: the Judas goat.

Judas goats were captured goats fitted with radio collars. They were released back into the wild, and as social creatures, they would seek out other goats. The Judas goats helped hunters locate herds that were hidden in dense vegetation and remote areas. More than 200 Judas goats were deployed in Santiago. The last feral goat had been removed in 2005, and by 2006 the island was finally free of all large introduced mammals.

The Numbers

For over 4.5 years, 79,579 goats were removed from Santiago at a cost of approximately US$6.4 million. It was the largest island goat eradication effort ever attempted at the time, both in the number of animals removed and the area covered. The project proved that large-scale goat eradication was possible and provided methods that were later used in conservation efforts across the Galápagos and other parts of the world.