Highlights

• Intermediate kayaking with some intermediate day hikes 
• 2 nights hotel, 10 nights wilderness camping in tents

Full Description

A thousand miles south of Buenos Aires, Peninsula Valdés juts into the Atlantic like the curved blade of an Eskimo ulu knife.

Although sheep estancias occupy most of its interior, the peninsula is one of the finest wildlife reserves in South America, presenting an outstanding coastal wilderness setting. The peninsula’s topography is largely tableland bounded by a fabulously fossil-rich and rugged, stratified coastline. The interior terrain is also surprisingly varied: the salt flats of Salinas Grande and Chica lie some 120 feet below sea level, some of the lowest-lying land in the world.

Peninsula Valdés is best known, however, as the nursery and sanctuary for the gentle southern right whale, and as the only South American breeding ground for the elephant seal. Straddling Valdés are two sheltered gulfs where these enormous baleen whales congregate by the hundreds to mate, calve and raise their young during each austral winter and spring, while thousands of elephant seals court and nurse their young on the expanse of gravel beaches that sweep the open outer coast of the peninsula.

Our Argentinian adventure begins with a stopover in the cosmopolitan capital of Buenos Aires, often referred to as the ‘Paris’ of South America, a city whose diverse character has been heavily influenced by the influx of immigrants from Europe during the past century.

After an overnight stay in this dynamic metropolis, we make an early-morning transfer to Aeroparque, the downtown domestic airport, to board our southbound flight. Once we cross over the Rio Negro (40° S. latitude) en route to Trelew, we enter the geographical bounds of Patagonia. Here, the sprawling eastern pampas, or Patagonian Steppe, dominates almost all the terrain that lies east of the continental divide of the Andes. Although it contains just a tiny percentage of the population, the Steppe country comprises more than a quarter of Argentina’s landmass.

For centuries Patagonia seemed too remote and too barren to warrant settlement or even exploration by Europeans. Occasionally Jesuit missionaries made forays into what was then perceived to be hostile Indian territory, but it wasn’t until 1865 when a group of Welsh immigrants put down roots in what is today the province of Chubut, that any large European settlement was established. Indeed, the name ‘Trelew’ is the Welsh for ‘Lewis City’, named in honor of Lewis Jones, one of the founding Welsh leaders.

Upon disembarking in Trelew, we head directly into town to visit the world-renowned paleontology museum for an orientation on Patagonia and an introduction to the great diversity of local fossil discoveries. After marveling at the various exhibits, we leave Trelew and make our way to the coastal city of Puerto Madryn, where we will dine together and overnight in a choice hotel overlooking Peninsula Valdés.

The next day we board our chartered mini-bus and motor overland to San Lorenzo, the spectacular breeding grounds for thousands of Magellanic penguins. In contrast to their Antarctic brethren, this penguin is only found in Patagonia and the Falkland islands (Las Malvinas). It is one of the few subtropical penguin species, migrating northward to the coast of Brazil during the austral winter. One of the four species of ‘jackass’ penguins (so named because they bray like donkeys), Magellanic penguins have established colonies along the Patagonian coastal wilds, burrowing row upon row into the dry soil in tiers like bleachers in a stadium. Other birds in the area include skuas, giant petrels, sheathbills, kelp gulls, and the ostrich-like rheas.

After a few hours observing and photographing these marvelous birds, we drive across Peninsula Valdés to the starting point for our kayak trip. This 10-day paddling safari is a roving expedition, with start and finish points approximately 60 miles apart. On most days — traveling conditions permitting — we will break camp and move on to a new site. The extreme tidal range found in the area requires that we work around the high tides, which usually means that we paddle for only 3 to 4 hours between landings. There will also be at least two camps where the group will remain based for a second night.

Our days (and nights!) will be filled with the hollow, resonating blows of the 55-foot leviathans offshore, the bellow of the male elephant seal that sounds like a Harley-Davidson motorcycle roaring by, and a chorus of Patagonian song birds. Traveling by kayak, we may encounter playful Southern right whale calves nudging up against their resting mothers or cradled under welcoming flippers, and we are likely to witness some breathtaking displays of breaching and tail-lobbing. We’ll almost certainly encounter groups of Southern sea lions swimming out to meet us and frolicking around our kayaks, and we’ll see elephant seals both on shore and in the water. Dusky dolphins and a small transient population of orcas also pass through the area.

An array of sub-Antarctic seabirds is often present, too, particularly during strong on-shore winds. One of the true delights in this land of the Southern Cross is the Patagonian song birds in the scrub brush: 40 species have been recorded in our surveys. Above the beach the scene gives way to a sweeping landscape that is home to the ostrich-like rhea, the curious armadillo, and the icon of Patagonia, the intriguing guanaco, cousin of the llama.

The final highlight of our natural history ‘smorgasbord’ is a few days of overland travel, essential to get a feel for the range and size of the sweeping Patagonian landscape. We will load up the mini-van and motor across the peninsula to the open Atlantic coast and the expansive mixed colony of sea lions and elephant seals that crowd the shores there. We then head south along the craggy eastern coastline to far-flung Punta Delgada, the spectacular southernmost corner of the peninsula. Here, we’ll end our day with dinner and accommodations inside a refurbished heritage lighthouse, a perch which gives sweeping views of the wild south Atlantic. This lodge offers an excellent opportunity to explore a nearby elephant seal rookery.

On our final day we make our way back to Trelew to meet our afternoon flights to Buenos Aires and homeward, though our memories of this wild and wonderful land will linger long after we depart.