We left Trelew in a hire car and headed for Peninsular
Valdes, an arrow head shaped peninsular stuck out in the Atlantic. We had to
pay to get into the reserve so decided to spend a few nights in there to make the
most of it. Wildlife includes Magellanic Penguins, Elephant Seals, Sea Lions, the Southern
Right Whale, Orcas! Caleta Valdes on the east, is famous for Orca’s ‘intentionally
stranding’ themselves in pursuit of their prey on the beach. The was also a lot of other wildlife that seemed to get overlooked and also a nice surprise!
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| Isla de los Parajos |
Our first stop was Mirador Isla de los Parajos, where we saw
many Sea Lions, before getting to our basic ‘accommodation’ at Puerto
Piramides, where we later had a swim in the sea – very cold at around 11
degrees! However, the temperature was in the 30s so it was nice and refreshing.
The following day we travelled along the long straight gravel roads to two main viewing spots for Orcas and Elephant Seals - Caleta Valdes and Punta Norte.
The roads were ok but long, with about 1.5 hours driving between each stop and nothing in between. Add in several crazy drivers and one totally mad coach and we were lucky to return with our hire car intact.
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| Magellanic Penguin |
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| Lots of Guanacos |
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| Caleta Valdes |
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| A massive male Elephant Seal |
That evening we saw our first glimpse of the Southern Right
Whale in the bay – first seeing it ‘blow’ before its head coming out of the
water. The next day we had a closer encounter with several more from a RIB boat trip.
The whales come here to calf each year and we were near to the end of the season. In addition to this, about 300 of the 400 calves born this year had died due to some parasitic disease, so were lucky to see a few mothers and their calves still in the bay.
Our last day was spent trying to spot the Orcas again, revisiting
Caleta Valdes but unfortunately, our perseverance was not awarded with a
sighting. However, we did meet Joanna Lumley and her film crew, as part of her
upcoming documentary on Argentina!
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| Joanna and some of her film crew |
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| A hard core Muy! |
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| Our last glimpse of Caleta Valdes |
We saw many other birds and animals, some shown below plus Armadillo, Giant Petrel, Peregrine Falcon, White Tailed Kite, and Turkey Vulture.
If you want a laugh, listen to the song of the Patagonian Mocking Bird!
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| Long Tailed Meadow Lark |
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| Cuis Chico (like a guinea pig) |
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| The song from this Patagonian Mocking bird was unbelievable! |
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| A family of Rheas |
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| Salina Grande (Salt Lake) |
Here are some photos of what we didn't see!
