Punta Tombo – Largest Penguin Colony outside Antarctica
Approximately twenty hours after we had left the End of The World, Ushuaia, Argentina, we disembarked from our bus in Trelew, Argentina. March 3rd my journal read, “On the bus, on the bus. This has been the most restful bus trip ever and I don’t want to get off. We have enough food to keep riding this bus for days. But, we have to get off now and go to the largest penguin colony outside Antarctica.”
We stepped off, grabbed our bags, wandered around the town of Trelew, found the only hostel in town and each scored a bed. In what took probably ten times as long with my broken Spanish, we secured a car rental for the next day. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, *be kind to each other*. This generous woman at the visitor center spent so much time with me, brought up google translator on the computer, made multiple phone calls to this lady who rents cars, (and honestly I was nervous about potential ‘what if’ horror stories of getting ripped off when renting a car), and because my Spanish was so bad the lady renting the car rushed over in person to slowly, very slowly go over everything with me in person. Each of these strangers went way above the normal standard of service. Their actions didn’t say to me, ‘Hey this is South America, you don’t speak Spanish, get out.’ Their actions said, ‘Hey, your a guest here, we’re going to help you and want you to have a good time in our country.’
And, because I felt confident in the transaction, we rented the car for the day to drive ourselves to Punta Tombo. One hundred and ten kilometers south of Trelew, this peninsula is a wild life hot spot and was one of the best managed reserves we visited on our trip.
Penguins on a mission to get from point A to B.
Entrance Punta Tombo: $70 ARS per person.
Just if you were curious on the twenty-ish hour bus ride, it was $2722 ARS from Ushuaia for both of us, which is about $340 US.
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Punta Tombo must have been quite the experience! Penguins, maras and a host of other critters, nice. And I thought Chris did a pretty good penguin and he attracted a little playmate!
Oh Punta Tombo was awesome. We enjoyed it so much. If we had our own car we would have gone back multiple times. A really nice experience.
Man I want to touch a penguin too…. guess I’ll have to go to the zoo for that. I didn’t know they burrowed. And that there bunny is a beast. Should put a saddle on him and have a good old fashion penguin rodeo!!! Great shots.
Haha, indeed! You could ride that bunny. Those mara’s are the coolest ever! I just had no idea they even existed and they fascinate me. The penguins can be quite funny as they make a lot of little noises, so could be laying in there burrows just making all sorts of sounds.
It is so refreshing to see a reserve that is doing good and open to the public so that the animals and people may all enjoy it. Your photos are always wonderful and I love the short videos. Everything is very informative.
You nailed it Suzanne! From our perspective and experience, we could just sing the praises about this reserve. They really have done an outstanding job and the museum is so smartly designed. And it’s in the middle of no where. I hope so much that the strong leadership this management is recognized and continues indefinitely maintain this refuge for wildlife.
I never imagined penguins living anywhere than a in a cold snowy climate yet here they are in the middle of South America. You’ve also shown me some animals that I never heard of before this. I’m guessing there’s a reserve for them because they all taste like chicken!
I know what you mean, a lot of people, ourselves included, wouldn’t have thought of this reserve as a choice location for a penguin colony, yet I think that’s a bigger metaphor for why land conservation is so important. There are still spots we don’t know where animals migratory homes are. And for new animals, that was one of the funnest parts about this last trip, learning and seeing animals like the mara’s just blew me away. They just fascinated me.
Vagabondway, you’ve got soul! “Soul is the deep feeling that is expressed from the heart and the mind: from a musician, an artist, a dancer, a photographer or from a writer. When you open your heart, and pour out your spirit, and you feel something that makes a difference in your life. That is the meaning of soul.” Solomon Burke
Thanks! That is about one of the nicest comments a writer can get. Thanks so very much for taking the time to leave the comment!
What crazy little creatures. Are they dogs? Are the rabbits? Maybe you could call them dabbits? or Dunnies?what about Dogbuns?
Aren’t those mara’s just the coolest!? Maybe we could saddle em up. And their front legs are so skinny!