Puerto Madryn and Trelew

We have just spent a week in northern Patagonia exploring the area around Puerto Madryn and Trelew which is famous for its wildlife.

We met up with some friends Mo and Pete, who we last saw at their wedding in August just before they set off on their own round the world trip. Despite making the arrangements it was pretty mad to have them knocking on our hotel door in Trelew, even stranger to discover that Pete had grown an enormous Brian Blessed style beard.

Trelew is a small town that was founded by Welsh people who emigrated to Patagonia in the 19th century to get away from the English. There is a Welsh village called Gaiman near to Trelew where we went to have afternoon tea and cakes. The cakes were gorgeous but Gaiman didn't feel much like a Welsh village. It´s a small, windswept, little place laid out in a grid and surrounded by the flat, desolate Patagonian plains. We did however have a taxi driver called David Hughes, which isn't a typical Argentine name!

From Trelew we also went to visit Punta Tombo, a nature reserve with around two hundred thousand Magellanic Penguins. Everywhere I looked there were penguins, in fact it was hardly possible to move without tripping over them. The fluffy, juvenile penguins hang around their nests, which are usually either in bushes or burrows in the ground. The adult penguins take it in turns to go to and from the sea to catch fish which they regurgitate into the months of the baby penguins, who fight like mad with their siblings to see who can get the most! You can see the adult penguins waddling down the hill slowly, then diving in under the surf and speeding off like underwater bullets.

One of the things that surprised me was how friendly and inquisitive the penguins at Punta Tombo are. Some of them walk right up to you to get a good look, others hang out in the car park or in the middle of the road. Sadly there were a few tourists at Punta Tombo who seemed unable to understand that they were visiting wild animals. One family brought in a dog, not even on a lead, which terrified the penguins until it was removed. Another man, who unfortunately didn´t get bitten, was trying to stroke the penguins. I think because of this it would probably be better if visitors to Punta Tombo were kept away from the actual nests on a raised walkway. That way curious penguins would have still have the option of coming to visit the tourists, while the others were left in relative peace.

Our next stop was Puerto Madryn, a pleasant seaside town, where lots of Argentines go for their summer holidays. We went on a windy walk down the coast to visit the EcoCentro where there are interesting exhibitions on marine life in Patagonia. The EcoCentro also has a viewing tower with sofas and books on wild life where you can contemplate the ocean and in the autumn see whales in the bay.

From Puerto Madryn we visited the Reserva Faunistica Penisula Valdes on a day trip. There we saw Southern Elephant Seals, Southern Sea Lions, Rheas, more Magellanic Penguins and some crazy looking hairy Armadillos running round a car park.

The most spectacular thing we saw were the hundreds of Southern Sea Lions at Punta Norte at the top of the peninsular. There are constant fights between the huge males over who is going to get the most female sea lions for his harem, nearly squashing the cubs in the process. Apparently Killer Whales (Orcas) are often seen at Punta Norte particularly in late February and early March. There had been a sighting of a group just two days before we visited but unfortunately we weren´t lucky enough to see any.

We have now said goodbye to Mo and Pete, who are back off to England via Buenos Aires and Rio, and we are heading off to Bariloche in the Argentine lake district.