Patagonia - Pumas & Peaks
In August of 2024 I finally embarked on a trip to one of the last regions on earth I had not explored at all: South America. The first blog posts are in: Tales of the Atacama Desert and the Wildlife of the Pantanal. There is more to come, and this is the third post covering my trip to Brasil and Chile: The beautiful mountain landscapes of Patagonia, and one of the incredible animals that inhabits them…
From Puerto Natales to the Peaks
I arrived in the small city of Puerto Natales from Santiago (with a short stopover, there are barely direct flights in the winter time), but didn’t spend much time in town, other than a short photography walk to the shoreline with my great expedition guide Rodrigo and his wife, who were to become friends with a lot of laughs on the following days.
Puerto Natales was formally founded in 1911, but its history goes back further than that, with Spanish explorers making visits to the area in the early 16th century in search of the Strait of Magellan and indigenous people having occupied this remote part of the world. First human evidence dates back more than 10,000 years.
Two black-necked swans with the Hotel Costaustralis of Puerto Natales in the distance. My actual destination here was the Torres Del Paine National Park, around 100km to the north, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (one day I should make a list of which ones I’ve seen…).
Torres del Paine
As we drove towards the park, the namesake mountain range came into view, with a beautiful sunrise awaiting at the Amarga lagoon.
Calm Waters
While the weather is a little colder in the winter, it’s much less windy (reflections galore!) and the late sunrise and early sunset makes the life of a photographer a little more enjoyable…Here is the same spot a few days later in different conditions.
The Paine massive with its three individual peaks reaching almost 2500 meters above sea level are definitely its most iconic sight, and the many lakes and lagoons provide a beautiful foreground. The peaks make for endless compositions, and we spent quite a bit of time around the area.
The park is quite popular - but that still only means around 250,000 tourists a year. Most of those come during the summer months, making the trails, camping spots and roads a little more busy - in August when I visited other people and cars were a rare sight.
The same can’t be said for the guanacos, which were definitely quite a common encounter. Closely related to the llama (and their cousin the vicuñas, which you will see in my Atacama blog), they generally live in herds and don’t mind the high altitude - their blood has 4 times the number of red blood cells as humans.
To the north of the park entrance is this viewpoint of the Cascada Rio Paine, a small waterfall on the Rio Paine, the water of which finally makes it into the Lago del Toro.
We made our way through the park for the rest of the day, stopping at a few more spots, including the Salto Grande waterfall that comes from Lake Nordenskjöld away from the mountains. Can you spot my guide in the left photo?
The waterfall flows through a narrow canyon into Lago Pehoé. A bridge once crossed the lake here, but it collapsed during flooding from what I recall.
Konkashken Lodge
My sleeping place for the next few days was this little hut on the banks of the Serrano river, just outside the park boundaries - amazing place to stay with a very hospitable owner and his family.
The river landscape in this area is incredible, with a number of small lodges and hotels scattered around on the right, and the nearby confluence of the blue Serrano river and the discharged water of the grey glacier - the latter was still on the agenda for my last days here, keep reading!
Contrasts
A few dozen semi-wild horses live around the park, one of which was grazing in the muddy waters and spotted by my drone.
A sunrise like no other…
The next morning had what was probably the most beautiful sunrise I’ve ever seen in store - and I almost missed it. In fact, I did miss the early blue hour, because for what was maybe the first time in my traveling life I actually properly overslept, falling back asleep after waking up and getting ready a little too early…Luckily Rodrigo banged on my door and we were off to capture the colors lighting up the mountain peaks from a small lagoon.
Cerro Paine Grande mountain is the tallest mountain in the park at 2884m, and reflected back on us in a different colour every 5 minutes. It’s peak has only been climbed four times.
The Cuernos (Horns) getting kissed by the first light. No editing needed - sometimes nature increases its saturation without human help…take a look at this clip of a few more beautiful landscape moments taken with my drone (flying outside the perimeters of the park is permitted).
Not every morning was equally as colorful of course, so sometimes you need to add your own bit of human made colour. This little red bridge leads to a small island which houses the Hosteria Pehoe, a restaurant and refugio - it was still closed, just preparing for its summer season.
Icey Start
While overall bearable, Patagonian winter temperatures at night fall way below freezing.
A morning photo as the moon set, and an evening impression from one of the many little lagoons around the park, with a small lenticular cloud wrapping itself around a peak. Winter is the time for reflections here, with very little wind, which is rare in the summer, when there are warning signs on many of the roads and wind speeds commonly exceed 100 km/h.
Burnt Victims
A few parts of the park show the devastating effects of fires caused by tourists. Over the last decades, three incidents that destroyed over 150 sqkm each occurred, the last one in 2012.
While the dead trees that remain make for beautiful haunting photos, they are a reminder of how fragile the ecosystem is. Having said that, research has shown that naturally occurring fires have not been uncommon in the area for thousands of years.
Puma Quest
Although the landscapes were beautiful and not to be missed, my primary priority was to find and photograph another big cat for the collection (see here for some jaguar, snow leopard, and leopard photos, for example). This area is probably the world’s most famous to see the puma, often referred to as cougar and - aptly, given their appearance - mountain lion. Many documentaries by the BBC and National Geographic have been shot in and around the park, which would probably mean it’s good enough for me as well, just about…
On the lookout
Rodrigo scanning the mountain ranges for signs of the elusive cats.
We dedicated most of the mornings and late afternoons of the six days I spent in Patagonia to areas where pumas are frequently sighted, keeping an eye out for alert guanacos (or their complete absence, which is also a good indicator), prints, or other cars tracking them. Although there are estimated to be around 200 individuals in the territory, the first three days were not successful, and as the days dwindled, so did my hope for a good sighting.
While there was no pumas to be found for the moment, the guanacos served as decent alternative wildlife subjects.
Another common sight is the crested caraca, one of the large birds in the area, and they have gotten used to humans. In fact, the ones living near the Pehoe camping site, where we stopped a few times, are almost pets.
One more interesting species to observe when looking for pumas is the Andean condor, as they often follow the cats in the hope to scavenge on the remains of a kill, or even harass them to get their share. With a wingspan of over 3m and weighing 15kg, they are considered the largest bird of pray in the world and have an impressive lifespan of 70 years. The species is considered vulnerable today.
On the fourth afternoon, we once more made our way through one of the roads less travelled in and around the park, sleepily looking for puma clues after a nice lunch. But the sleepy vibe changed within a second, when suddenly, not one, or two, but three puma appeared just a hundred meters away from us as we crossed a small hill. Before we even realised what was happening, two of them dashed off over the hills into the distance. We suspected they were two younger brothers but could barely catch a glimpse of them. That left a large female gently walking on the slope besides the car, just 20 meters away.
The Sighting
At first she stalked and smelled the tracks of the two young puma that had just ran away, but didn’t seem particularly eager to chase after them.
A few moments of focused observation in the taller grass and bushes seemed enough to be sure the youngsters would not bother her again.
Crossing
Once she had made sure the intruders were nowhere to be seen, she changed direction, came down the slope and crossed the road, at which point we slowly scrambled backwards to give her space. Pumas in this area have gotten used to humans around, and don’t see them as a threat (or source of food) - that’s unlike anywhere else in the world, where this would be a very dangerous situation.
That’s not to say you should try and pet these large cats - keeping a distance, never cornering them, avoiding sudden movements and sounds, and observing their behaviour closely, are the key.
Notice the huge paws, the cut in her ear and slightly grumpy face, which gives her a very characteristic look - if anyone knows the name of this individual, please leave a comment!
She took a moment to chill in the short grass on the other side of the road, with the dramatic Patagonian mountain ranges in the distance, before making her way across the ridge, where it became impossible to follow her.
Queen
What an encounter! We probably spent almost 1h with her, observing different behaviors with no other soul in sight, in beautiful conditions.
Tip: One thing that I always find really useful when photographing unpredictable scenes like wildlife is to carry two camera bodies with different lenses with me - it’s hard to switch lenses in the field, and you risk missing the action. I used a previous Olympus flagship model for the wider angle photos here, and it is quite affordable nowadays, perfect for these situations.
Take a look at this video for a few clips of this amazing moment.
A few days later we did in fact have another Puma sighting in the very last light of the evening - this is the best photo I could get before it disappeared, putting the quality of the first sighting into perspective…
Puma Presence
We came back to the same area the next day, but she and her two companions were nowhere to be found. Instead, we opted for a small hike along the hills - probably crossing her territory. Guides are mandatory due to the presence of the cats, but the goal this time was to see evidence of humans, rather than cats.
There are a few places in and around the park with pre-historc rock art - this one is fairly easily to reach after about an hour of moderate hiking. These petroglyphs are from the ancient Aonikenk / Tehuelches culture, the nomadic tribes that once inhabited this area. The paintings on the cave ceiling in the left image are about 6500 years old.
Lago Grey & its Glacier
The quest for these big cats was also the reason landscapes and the longer hiking routes to or around the peaks (which can take 5-10 days) had to take a backseat - plus, the rising moon (and frequent clouds) didn’t make Milky Way photography an option during my visit, but I may be back for that…
Having said that, I moved to a different hotel for the last two nights, this time on the west side inside the park to explore its most famous glacier, feeling a little bit more relaxed after the successful Puma quest.
The calm shoreline of Lago Grey at sunrise, with the glacier just about visible as tiny bright blue spec in the distance on the left. In fact though it’s almost 6 kilometers wide, and the front face over 30 meters tall.
Iceberg Alert
It regularly calves, leaving large floating icebergs in the water, which gently make their way to the shores of the lake, where they slowly melt away.
The goal was to get much closer though, taking a boat across the glacier lake for a better look at the details. I had the chance to explore glaciers in Alaska before, and while there are always similarities, every one is its own incredible feat of nature, with the heavily compressed blue ice slowly pushing its way down the slopes.
As the boat approaches, temperature drop noticeably and more and more ice appears on the lake, with the beautiful backdrop and earthy colors of the mountain ranges.
The glacier belongs to the Southern Patagonian Icefield - at almost 17,000 sqkm, it the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field (the biggest being in Alaska).
Patagonia Aesthetics
Thev view towards the glacier from Hotel Lago Grey. Look closely to spot the boat that takes you close to the glacier.
One last morning view over the Cerro Paine Grande and its icey snowcapped mountaintop from a small waterfall near the (very expensive) Explora hotel. We saw a number of Puma prints here, and the accompanying smell also indicated they may have been here the night before, leaving their marks, but remaining unseen - to us anyway. But we had our moment.
And that was it from my trip to Patagonia, but I would say chances are high I might be back...
Disclaimer: This post contains a sponsored link from which I earn a small amount, but all the content absolutely represents my true opinion and is factual to the best of my knowledge.
