Home » Bolivia Argentina » Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Perito Moreno Glacier, Torres del Paine and the Chilean Fjords

Concepción (Paraguay), 9 February 2004

Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, Perito Moreno Glacier, Torres del Paine and the Chilean Fjords

Odv
2004-09-15 11:19:59

Displayed times (last time: )

We spent one night in the refugio near the glacier, walking back to the Pehoe camp the next day, unfortunately we had to spend that night in a tent. There was so much wind and it was so cold, that this was a rather unpleasant experience. On our last day we walked to Valle Francés, from which you are supposed to be able to see all the high peaks. Unfortunately mother nature made this impossible with a thick cloud cover.

Our time in Patagonia was coming to an end, from Puerto Natales we got on the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt, spending 3 days and 4 nights navigating through the Chilean fjords. We spent those days watching the untouched scenery roll by, looking at mountains rising steeply out of the water, watching the ship pass through narrow channels, passing a shipwreck, viewing wildlife and seeing whales spray water into the air just meters from the ship.

On board were several interesting presentations and documentaries that could be followed, some were about the wildlife we could see from the boat or had seen in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. Here is a short list of some of the native animals that we have seen:

A bird called the Cormoran Imperial in Spanish (or imperial Shag in English) and a related bird the Cormoran of the rocks. Both these birds make their nests on rocks and cliffs.
The kelp goose, a species that has sexual dimorphism (the male and female of the species look different), in this case the female is black and the male is white. The clearly visible male distracts predators, thus protecting his offspring.
The flightless steamer duck. It can not fly and instead uses its wings to paddle while running across the water. Quite a sight! At 83cm it is the largest duck in the region.
The black necked swan, which just as the name says has a black neck.
Magellanic penguins.
Why don't polar bears eat penguins? The reason is that polar bears live in the northern hemisphere and penguins live in the southern hemisphere! However we had seen penguins in the Galapagos, which is just on the equator. It turns out that the archipelago is host to the northernmost penguin colony, they can survive there due to a cold water current from the Antarctic.

After 3 days at sea, we arrived in Puerto Montt, where we took a bus to nearby Puerto Varas, to spend our last days in Chile.

Copyright Otto de Voogd

All rights reserved.

Please visit my website