Length of Tour
11-Days/10-Nights
Brief Itinerary
Day 1. Arrival to Buenos Aires. Transfer to Hotel. Night in Buenos Aires.
Day 2. Flight to Trelew & transfer to Puerto Piramides. Night in Puerto Piramides.
Day 3. Valdes Peninsula full day & boat trip for whales! Night in Puerto Piramides.
Day 4. Penguin Colony at Punta Tombo & transfer to Trelew. Night in Trelew.
Day 5. Flight to Ushuaia. Martial Glacier walk. Night in Ushuaia.
Day 6. Boat trip on the Beagle Channel full day. Night in Ushuaia.
Day 7. Tierra del Fuego National Park & tranfer to Rio Grande. Night in Rio Grande.
Day 8. Northern Tierra del Fuego & flight to El Calafate. Night in El Calafate.
Day 9. Los Glaciares National Park full day. Night in El Calafate.
Day 10. Patagonian steppe full day. Night in El Calafate.
Day 11. Flights to Buenos Aires or continuation onto CHILE: Puma of Torres del Paine.
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1 – Arrival to Buenos Aires. Transfer to Hotel.
Transfer from the International Airport to our hotel where we will gather in the evening for a welcome dinner with your guides! Night in Buenos Aires.
Day 2 – Flight to Trelew & transfer to Puerto Piramides. Night in Puerto Piramides.
Early flight to Trelew, the gateway to Valdez Peninsula. From there we drive to Puerto Piramides, stopping for birds on the way! Burrowing Parrot, Grey-hooded Sierra-Finch, Shiny Cowbird, and Patagonian Mockingbird are possible in addition to the endemic Carbonated Sierra-Finch. Before checking-in we will have good chances to spot our first Elegant Crested Tinamou and the native Guanaco; a South American relative of camels! We’ll spend a few hours on a boat cruise in search of Southern Wright Whales and some seabirds! Night in Puerto Piramides.
Day 3 – Valdes Peninsula full day & boat trip for whales! Night in Puerto Piramides.
This is sure to be a great day combining a variety of wildlife! Endemic Guanacos and Maras are possible along the road, often providing great opportunities to photograph them! Bird life here includes South American Tern, Sandwich Tern, Royal Tern, Black-browed Albatross, Southern Giant Petrel, both wintering American and resident Blackish Oystercatchers, and Brown Skuas! During the afternoon we will be searching for Burrowing Owls, Grey-bellied Shrike-Tyrant, Tawny-throated Dotterels, White-throated Cachalote, Patagonian Canastero, and Eared Dove as we continue towards Caleta Valdez. A short walk will lead as another seabird and sea-mammal colony with great photographic opportunities for Southern Giant Petrels, our first Magellanic Penguins, and maybe even an Orca/Killer Whale! Night in Puerto Piramides.
Day 4 – Penguin Colony at Punta Tombo & transfer to Trelew. Night in Trelew.
We will devote our day enjoying one of the highlights in the region – the biggest Magellanic Penguin colony in the World, with over 500,000 individuals! To get there it is a straight drive across wide open pampas scrublands, with stops for Elegant Crested Tinamous and views of Rusty-backed Monjita. At Punta Tombo, Southern Martins will welcome us. It is a huge place well organized with boardwalks; there are Magellanic Penguins everywhere, under the bushes and in burrows! Patagonian Mockingbirds are around the scrubs, and as we get to the point, we will have chance at finding Chubut Steamer-Duck and Brown Skuas! On our way back to Trelew, we will have our last stop today in a nice lagoon to enjoy Argentine Ruddy-Duck, Chilean Swallows, White-winged Coots, White-tailed Kite, Spectacled Tyrant, Picui Ground-Dove, Wren-like Rushbird, Spectacled Tyrant , and if we are lucky even the Many-colored Rush-Tyrant! Night in Trelew.
Day 5 – Flight to Ushuaia. Martial Glacier walk. Night in Ushuaia.
After our flight to Ushuaia, we will drive to a small sky resort nearby where we will be introduced to the endemic beech forests and even climb above the timerline! Many specialties of the Andes are possible here such as Dark-faced Ground-Tyrant, Ochre-naped Ground-Tyrant, White-throated Caracara, and beautiful Yellow-bridled Finches! We’ll also search for the really scarce White-bellied Seed-Snipe. Once at the hotel, we will take a short walk along the Beagle Channel coast before dinner. Here there are good spots to find Kelp Goose, Ashy-headed Goose, booth Flightless and Flying Steamer-Ducks, White-rumped and Baird´s Sandpipers, and Dolphin Gulls. We will enjoy excellent views of the impressive scenery from right in downtown! Just near the hotel there is a nice piece of forest where we might find Austral Parakeet or a Rufous-collared Sparrow. Many times Black-faced Ibis, Southern Lapwing, and Upland Goose wander near the parking area. Night in Ushuaia.
Day 6 – Boat trip on the Beagle Channel full day. Night in Ushuaia.
By catamaran we will explore the Beagle Channel! Many seabirds can be observed along our route through the fjords including Black-browed Albatross, Southern Fulmar, Magellanic Diving-Petrel, Southern Giant Petrel, and South American Tern! When passing rocky islands, we will concentrate attention on spotting Rock Cormorant, Blue-eyed Cormorant, Flightless Steamer-Duck, Snowy Sheathbill, and Dolphin Gulls! The extremely range-restricted Blackish Cinclodes can sometimes be found in cormorant colonies too, so a focus on this bird will be done. On Martillo Island we’ll get excellent views of the Magellanic Penguin. This is a small colony, but often produces good views of them in addition to Gentoo Penguins and even sometimes a molting King Penguin or two!
During the afternoon we will drive through the Andes Range to Lake Fagnano. Chimango Caracara are very common (and often very confiding!) and we may also track down both Southern Caracara and White-throated Caracara! Night in Ushuaia.
Day 7 – Tierra del Fuego National Park & tranfer to Rio Grande. Night in Rio Grande.
Tierra del Fuego National Park provides a perfect contrast; for here we visit the dense Southern Beech forest – home of the White-throated Treerunner and the mighty Magellanic Woodpecker! On rivers and lakes there are good chances for various ducks, Great Grebe, Ringed Kingfisher, and Flying Steamer-Ducks, among others. We will search for Black-chested Buzzard-Eagles soaring overhead! Fire-eyed Diucon, Chilean Swallow, Austral Thrush, Black-chinned Siskin, Patagonian Sierra-Finch, Tufted Tit-Tyrant, and the delightful Thorn-tailed Rayadito are also possible to find here! Sometimes it is possible to spot diving-petrels using a scope from the coast. This protected area offers great trails to explore and, time permitting, we will search for the cryptic Magellanic Tapaculo. In the afternoon we will begin the multi-hour drive north to Rio Grande. Night in Rio Grande.
Day 8 – Northern Tierra del Fuego & flight to El Calafate. Night in El Calafate.
Today we will start searching the northern grasslands and lagoons of Tierra del Fuego – a good area to find Magellanic Plover, Rufous-chested Dotterel, Ruddy-headed Goose, Austral Canastero, Patagonian Yellow-Finch, Chocolate-vented Tyrant, both Least and Gray-breasted Seedsnipe, Chilean Flamingo, and Magellanic Oystercatcher. According to tides we will spend some time along the Atlantic coast, near the city where we can find some roosting areas chosen as key wintering sites by several boreal shorebirds, including the endangered Red Knot, Hudsonian Godwit, Whimbrel, Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone. This is their southernmost stop during their annual migration from as far north as arctic Alaska and Canada!
In the afternoon, we’ll fly to El Calafate. Later that day we will visit Laguna Nimes Natural Reserve by Lake Argentino. This great wetland will provide good views of Cinereous Harrier, Chilean Flamingo, Upland Goose, Southern Lapwing, Two-banded Plover, both Black-necked and Coscoroba Swans. Along the shore of Lake Argentino there are good chances to see Magellanic Plover. Also possible are Least Seedsnipe, Ashy-headed Goose, and the tiny but beautiful Austral Negrito which is a summer migrant to the area. Males arrive first, followed by the females. Night in El Calafate.
Day 9 – Los Glaciares National Park full day. Night in El Calafate.
This will be a great day for sure! Spectacular scenery and superb birds are guaranteed! We’ll scan the sky for the majestic king of the Andes; the Andean Condor! The Condor is one of the biggest flying birds in the World with an impressive 3-meter wingspan, making it wider than the biggest tour bus! In the forests nearby we’ll seek Black-chinned Siskin, White-crested Elaenia, Tufted Tit-tyrant, Austral Thrush, and Austral Blackbird. In the open spaces, we may see Rufous-tailed Plantcutter and Chilean Swallow. With luck, we may find Spectacled Duck on a lagoon! In addition to Austral Parakeets and Patagonian Sierra Finches we will make an effort to find two special endemics: Austral Pygmy-Owl and Chilean Flicker! Perito Moreno Glacier will provide great photo opportunities, with the most dramatic and impressive scenery in Patagonia! Night in El Calafate.
Day 10 – Patagonian steppe full day. Night in El Calafate.
A day trip through steppe landscape should produce Lesser Rhea, Patagonian Canastero, Mourning Sierra Finch, Long-tailed Meadowlark, Common Diuca-Finch, Cordilleran and Austral Canastero, Scale-throated Earthcreeper, and with luck – the endemic Patagonian Tinamou! We’ll enjoy our last views of iconic Guanacos along the way! Night in El Calafate.
Day 11 – Flights to Buenos Aires or continuation onto CHILE: Puma of Torres del Paine!
Morning flights to the Buenos Aires International Airport for departures, or continuation from El Calafate onto our CHILE: Puma of Torres del Paine 6-day extension!
