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| Satellite View of Pinta Island |
Pinta Island (also known as Abington, but better known as named after Columbus' ship The Pinta) is a tiny spot representing less than 1% of the entire Galapagos land reserve (it is just 60 km in area). Its highest point is 2550 feet above sea level. Pinta is a shield volcano with numerous young cones and lava flows. Not only is Pinta the most northern of the Galapagos Islands, but also it hosts no visitor sites, other than one boat landing site, used primarily by scientists, on its northern shore called Punta Neros.
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| Volcanic Formations on Pinta |
Pinta is an important island from the viewpoint of conservancy, preservation and species evolution. It is renowned for two significant reasons. It is best known for being the home of Lonesome George, the iconic Galapagos tortoise, the last of his species, who died in June 2012. Second, though remote and very small, this marvelous gem hosts nearly 1/3 of the native terrestrial plants in the Galapagos.
