El Junco Lagoon

One of the only permanent freshwater lakes in the Galápagos, mist-shrouded in the highlands.

El Junco sits about 20km east of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno by road, reached by taxi or tour vehicle. The approach climbs through the agricultural zone of the highlands — farms, introduced vegetation, muddy tracks — before the vegetation shifts to dense sedge and ferns around the lake itself. A circular trail runs around the rim of the crater in about 30 minutes, offering views across the lake and down to the coast when the mist lifts.

The birdlife here is different from the coast — Darwin's finches, yellow warblers, and the endemic San Cristóbal mockingbird can all be seen around the shore. The lake is named for the junco sedge (Scirpus californicus) that grows in dense stands at the water's edge. Come prepared for cool, wet weather regardless of the season: the highlands are reliably cloudy.

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A story
El Junco is a crater lake at around 700 metres in San Cristóbal's interior — one of the very few permanent freshwater bodies in the entire Galápagos archipelago. It is almost always shrouded in cloud and mist, which gives it a quality quite unlike the parched lava landscapes of the lower elevations. The most remarkable thing about it is this: frigate birds fly up from the coast to bathe here, rinsing the salt from their feathers in the fresh water. It is the only place in the world where frigate birds are known to do this.

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