Patagonia Dreaming Part II -
Wildlife Galore

Created April 2006, Updated 4/2006

中文版 (Chinese)

So I finally reach the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.

Patagonia's Atlantic coast is ragged and monotomous. The landscape is not as dramatic as people may expect. However, what makes this area interesting is its wildlife.

The Coastal town we stayed, Puerto Madlyn, is very near the Valdes Peninsula, which is one of South America's finest wildlife reserves. With a total area of 3600 sq km and more than 400 km of coastline, it is home to sea lions, elephant seals, guanacos, rheas, Magellanic penguins, and numerous seabirds. Another popular activity here is whale watching (both southern right whale and orca (killer whale). Unfortunately, the peak whale watching season was over (mid-December) when we visited the Peninsula.

Just off the coast of the Valdes Peninsula, lies Isla de los Pajaros. It is an island shaped like a hat. Though for me, it looks more like a "boa constrictor that just ate an elephant." Yes! if you have ever read Antoine St-Exupery's "The Little Prince," this is the isle that inspired St-Exupery's story. Actually, it is said that the landscape of Asteroid B612 in the book was inspired by his experience flying over the Patagonia.

Still not able to act like a "grown-ups" as people expect me to, I would try to enjoy this trip like what "le petit prince" might do...

Please click the thumbnail on the pictures to see enlarged images
在照片上按一下滑鼠就可看到此照片的放大版

Since this is a national park, it also has a visitor center. Lying about 22km beyond the entrance, it has a great exhibition. From the top of the observation desk (at left), you can vaguely see Isla de los Pajaros (though you cannot discern its shape from there)

There are a lot of Magellanic penguins on the Peninsula. And Frebuary is the right season to watch them. Pretty most young penguin chicks born at the end of last year had reached their adolescence in February.

You can even see penguins making out there!

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of its battery later that day, so I did not take a lot of pictures of elephant seals and sea lions. This is the only usable one for picture of seals. It's not like Galapagos, where we could stand right next to the wild animals. This was as close as we could.