Tag: patagonia

Otway Sound, Chile

PUNTA ARENAS, NOVEMBER 2005 –

I remember how it was the first time when I met with these funny animals that look neither fish nor birds : the Magellanes penguins in South-Africa…
I was intrigued how they could swim and come ashore, I was amused how they walked, and they gave me a feeling that wildlife still existed on this planet, that there was still some birds that were wild enough to come again and again to the same spot and just do what they do… being penguins.So I was thrilled to meet again. The location : Otway sound, Chile. The weather : windy, rainy, cold – ideal conditions for our little friends.

Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas is a small city, overlooking the Straits of Magellan. The Straits of Magellan were for a long time the favored way for ships to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific, for traders and explorers alike. When Magellan first traveled this part of the world, and discovered this passage, he saw a lot of fires to the west – he called this part of the world “tierra del fuego” (land of fires). The fires were made by the indigenious people.
On the plaza in Punta Arenas, a statue remembers the explorers and the ‘wild’ people they conquered.

A popular excursion out of town is a two hour ride to the Otway sound, where the penguins live.

Otway Sound Penguin colony

It was rainy, very windy and cold, the sea was wild. This is the usual weather over here, this is Patagonia, this is penguin area!

The national park is not that big but offers good opportunities to enjoy the way of life of the penguins. There are great photo opportunities everywhere.

The penguins come to this part of land to breed – everywhere are signs “not to disturb the breeding process”…

As soon as they come out of the ice cold water, they clean their feathers with their beaks. It is amazing how smooth they can make the transition from swimming to sliding on the water and eventually walking.

And then they begin their funny walk to their nest – they always use the same nest and the same pathways to go there.When you study them closely – and there are many opportunities to do so here – you begin to realise how interesting they are, how sofisticated their social behaviour is, and how tough they are – as you get colder and colder standing there, they just go on, wait to look back, and eventually will find their nest and mate.

Way to go, the penguin way !

We will meet again.

July 29, 2018

Torres del Paine , Chile

PUERTA NATALES, NOVEMBER 2005 –

This is one of the main reasons why I came to Patagonia in the first place : to see the famous mountain peaks of the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. How many times I hadn’t seen these in pictures, and yet now that I was standing here it was feeling greater than reality. I often felt like being in a dream, in a perfect natural environment, where everything is beautiful and peaceful, but also so different that it became a little strange – only the pain in the feet after a days walking brought me back to reality but at night when sleeping in my tent, the dreams came back and the sounds of the horses galloping next to the tent in the morning didn’t break the dreams but only amplified them.

Sounds a little ‘unreal’ ? Well this place has often a surreal aspect, I will try to explain…

We arrived with the catamaran, after a fantastic boat trip with views of ‘Los Cuernos’ and ‘Paine Grande’ and many more beautiful mountain scenery. The weather was great – sun and blue sky – not the Patagonia we expected, and we quite couldn’t believe it was going to stay like this. The campsite next to the lake and with great views all around, this was the start of the dreams and surreal experiences.

The Grey Glacier

Day 1 – After a 2 hours walk along the Grey river, a glacier river with many floating icebergs and which really looks grey (but all glacier rivers do), we reached the lookout point for the Grey glacier. The last part was quite rocky and windy, the experience of sitting on top of a rock and admiring the great glacier, was truly surreal experience number 1.
Along the way while we walked, we could drink from the stream of mountain water, pure and ice cold and tasty. The firebush were blooming, the green was fresh – spring at its best.
We enjoyed camplife and a good sleep in our tent – it felt just all great to be there..

The French Valley

Day 2 – some 20 kilometers or more of walking along the French valley today. After a couple of hours, and many pictures later, we reached the first lookout point – great views of the cuernos and Paine Grande, the highest mountain of the park and always covered with snow and glaciers. I sat for a couple of hours there and saw maybe 10 snow avalanches – even filmed one that lasted maybe 5 minutes on my mpeg photo camera – surreal experience number 2 !
The way back was long and tiring, after every bend I hoped to see our tents, but this idea just made it longer… Finally when we arrived, we took the catamaran to our next camping site.

This camping site was on private ground, more remote, and our driver even spotted a puma at night – I only heard the horses galloping next to the tents in the morning.

The Torres !

Day 3 – Another full day of hiking, this time to the refugeo Chileno and to the base of the Torres ! The highlight of the trip for many, and the first view of the torres, it is surreal experience number 3. We hiked the first hour all the way up, then on a plateau which leads to the mountain hut ‘refugeo Chileno’, a place next to a river and with great view on the ‘condors nest’, the south and the central torre. To see the north tower too, one has to hike some more hours, the last part climbing over big rocks. I was out of energy that day and relaxed at refugeo Chileno for about 2 hours, enjoying the views, the sounds, the smells, the good life in the mountains.On the way down we stopped a lot to study the mountain flowers and birds – such a harsh environment and yet such a diverse nature !

The weather stayed great for 3 full days – our guide had never experienced this over here, but we were lucky to be able to enjoy it – another dream that came true.

July 29, 2018

Ushuaia , Argentina

USHUAIA, NOVEMBER 2005

I dreamt about this destination for a long time, finally I was there and the place gave me a feeling of peace and inspiration. The southern most town of the world breathes a special atmosphere, it is everywhere and yet it is hard to define what makes this place so special. Maybe it is the ultimate end-of-the-world feeling, the freedom to know that when you look out over the water, that out there is only more water, ice and snow of Antarctica, the last true wilderness of the world.

We arrived with the airplane from Punta Arenas, a 30 minutes flight. The landing was quite exciting as the plane has to land on a relatively short runway and comes in flying low over the surface of the Beagle Canal. The airport is only 15 minutes away from Ushuaia centre. The hostel we were staying was a real charm , the owner told us from the first couple of minutes to check out the dining room on the fourth floor, he was proud of it, and he should be, because the almost 360 degrees view was absolutely stunning – from one side the mountains, the ‘5 brothers’ and the Martial glaciar, to the other side the town of Ushuaia and the Beagle Canal with the port and the sailing boats. At this point I was already convinced of the special atmosphere of this place, and I knew the following three days were going to be great.

Ushuaia City

The city itself is of course a touristic place, with the usual souvenir shops, tourist agencies, restaurants – most of them with great food, especially the seafood and some of them in truly romantic locations – and even casinos. But walking in town here feels just great, not only because of the very fact that this is the southern most city in the world, but also because as soon as you climb some uphill streets – and they are really uphill here – you can enjoy the silence of mountains, the sea and start dreaming away. The city has some interesting museums, I visited the one about the indigenious Yamana people, which adds yet more atmosphere to the Ushuaia experience, and the ‘Fin del mundo’ museum, which covers exploration of Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia, and has besides this a nice stuffed birds collection.
Walking along the docks is also pleasant, some interesting historical buildings, a couple of little churches, but most of all the boats and the view of the Beagle Canal…

The Beagle Canal

This canal is the passway from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, and is dotted with little islands and rocks. Big boats must be very carefull here, but we were going on a small boat today, as we intended to see the wildlife, and even walking on a little island !
On the cliffs of the rocks, the cormorants make their nests, and there are thousands of them, they share the rocks with the sea lions on some places – the little boat went very close to the cliffs, and the experience was great, but maybe the animals didn’t like the intruders that much.

After a while, we went ashore to do some walking on a small island that used to be inhabited by the Yamana – rests of their campment are visible here. The island was a great experience, you are really in the middle of the Beagle canal, you can feel the wind and the rain and you really feel like an intruder into the daily life of the birds that made this island their home.

July 29, 2018