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Peninsula Valdéz – Whale Watching

A Photo Essay

Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) or Ballena Franca Austral, Peninsula Valdez National Park, Northern Patagonia, Argentina, South America

Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) or Ballena Franca Austral, Peninsula Valdez National Park, Northern Patagonia, Argentina, South America

The Peninsula Valdéz is one of South America most popular national parks, with 80.000 visitors a year, which is for instance ten times more than in the beautiful and very pristine Madidi National Park in the Amazon Basin in Bolivia. With 3.600 square kilometers and especially 400 kilometers of coast, it is home to many species like sea lions, the only colony of sea elephants on a continent apart from Antarctica, graceful guanacos, Magellanic Penguins and the endangered Ballena Franca Austral or Southern Right Whale, to only name some of the species we could spot, and of course many kinds of birds … Continue Reading →

Punta Tombo

The Biggest Penguin Colony Outside Of Antarctica

Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), Punta Tombo, Peninsula Valdez, Argentina

About 120 km south of Trelew is the other main attraction of this region: the biggest penguin colony outside of Antarctica. An estimated 175.000 couples (some say 200.000 couples) of Magellanic Penguins arrive here in August / September to build nests and lay eggs. Continue Reading →

Península Valdéz

 Home of sea lions and sea elephants

A male sea elephant can weight up to 4 tons and has a harem of up to 200 females, Peninsula Valdez, Argentina

A male sea elephant can weight up to 4 tons and has a harem of up to 200 females, Peninsula Valdez, Argentina

On the second day, starting from Puerto Piramides, we drove around and across Peninsula Valdéz, a very long drive of about 220 kilometers on gravel roads. There are mainly three places to go. Continue Reading →

Puerto Madryn

Gateway To Peninsula Valdéz

Punta Delgada, Peninsula Valdez, Argentina

Punta Delgada, Peninsula Valdez, Argentina

At the airport in Trelew, we rented a car and went straight north to Puerto Madryn, the small town at the entrance of the Peninsula, a 65 kilometers ride on a perfectly straight road crossing northern Patagonia. Here we got a first taste of what the landscape in this area of Patagonia is like: flat like a pancake with low growing bushes, extremely monotonous no matter which direction you go. Well, nobody comes here for the flora but for the whales, guanacos, sea lions, sea elephants, penguins and lots of other wildlife! Continue Reading →