VISITING THE KING PENGUINS IN TIERRA DEL FUEGO (2 DAYS)

We will start our journey with a private transfer from your hotel to the ferry docks located at the northern side of Punta Arenas.

At approximately 9 am, we will begin our 2.5-hour crossing through the mythic waters of the Straits of Magellan; these world-famous seaways are very rich in terms of history of exploration.

Magellan, Drake, Cavendish, Bougainville, Fitz Roy and Darwin, among several other sailors and explorers, surveyed this region, most of the times, in really harsh and dangerous conditions.

You will see an interesting array of seabirds, including Black-browed Albatrosses, Southern Giant Petrels, Southern Fulmars, King Cormorants, Dolphin Gulls and South American Terns.

It is very likely to see interesting marine mammals such as pods of Peale’s Dolphin and inquisitive South American Sea Lions.

As soon as we land you will realize that the vegetation of this part of Tierra del Fuego is dominated by flat wind-swept steppes, with tussock grasses and low shrubs, and interspersed by rolling hills.

We will stop at the town of Porvenir, visiting the local museum to learn more about the culture and we will have lunch in the city.

We will be driving for approximately two hours along the shores of Bahia Inútil (Useless Bay), where we expect to see a great array of wildlife including Guanaco, Southern Grey Fox, the ubiquitous Upland Goose, Chilean Flamingo and a great diversity of waterfowl.

At sea we may see albatrosses, petrels, gulls and skuas patrolling the turbulent waters of the bay. Once our scenic drive has finished, we’ll drive back to our hotel for the evening for a good nights rest following dinner.

This morning we will drive a few minutes to the King Penguin Park. This is a private nature reserve, which aims to preserve the small numbers of the ‘Kings’ that visit the area and even remain year-round here, taking advantage of the excellent feeding conditions of the surrounding seas.

We will have ample opportunities to observe and photograph the penguins from a reasonable distance keeping a fair distance admiring the penguins from behind the infrastructure, careful not to disturb them or their environment.

After a while, the penguins tend to forget about the visitors (or they might simply not care about our presence) and usually come closer on their own – sometimes as close as 20 meters, sometimes a bit closer, but again: we’ll let them decide! This respectful, close proximity between visitor and penguin gives amateur and professional wildlife photographers a fantastic chance to practice their craft.

We will drive through Tierra del Fuego all the way to “Punta Delgada” the thinnest part of the Magellan Strait, and we will cross it by a 10 minutes navigation in a Ferry, then we will drive back to Punta Arenas on a different route, passing thought all estancias and classic Patagonian Landscape.