The rugged Pinta Island is the northernmost of the main Galapagos group. Named Abingdon Island by the English, after the Earl of Abingdon, Pinta Island has no visitor sites, it does have some landing sites, however a special permit is required from the Galapagos National Park authority to go ashore.
Pinta Island is a shield volcano with numerous young lava flows and fissures, its landscapes relatively arid and dry.
How to Get to Pinta Island
Unfortunately, Pinta Island cannot be visited on a normal Galapagos Island cruise, but it is worth mentioning for its most famous resident, Lonesome George, the last ever Pinta tortoise.
Pinta Island Wildlife
Despite an area of 60 square kilometres, there is a wide variety of wildlife found here, including Galapagos hawks, fur seals, swallow-tailed gulls and marine iguanas.
Pinta Island Tortoise
The island once had a thriving tortoise population, now almost diminished due to poaching by whalers and fishermen, and the introduction of non-native species such as goats, which devastated the tortoises' habitat by destroying vegetation.
Lonesome George was the last survivor of the Pinta tortoise subspecies. Discovered in the 1900’s and moved to the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island, the many failed attempts to mate him lead to him living the life of a bachelor till his passing in June 2012.
On a more positive note, the island is now starting to recover from its darker days, with food supplies returning to help ensure the survival of the local wildlife.
