Just northeast of town is this iconic national park site, where more than 200 scientists and volunteers are involved with research and conservation efforts, the most well-known of which involves a captive breeding program for giant tortoises. Paths leading through arid-zone vegetation take you past tortoise enclosures, where you can get a good look at these Galápagos giants. There's also a baby-tortoise house with incubators (when the tortoises weigh about 1.5kg or are about four years old, they’re repatriated to their home islands).
Other attractions include a small enclosure containing several land iguanas , with explanations in Spanish and English concerning efforts to restore their populations on islands where they’ve been pushed to the brink of extinction.
