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Punta Arenas
Reception and transfer from Punta Arenas Airport to the hotel. |
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Punta Arenas - Magdalene Island
Breakfast at the hotel. Punta Arenas was the first significantly populated town in Southern Patagonia. It was established on December 18, 1948. Soon it became the most important cultural, industrial, commercial and stock center in the region. We will visit the Salesian museum Maggiorino Borgatello, where we can find an important collection of Magellan wildlife specimens, folklore relics and crafts made by Tierra del Fuego native people such as yamanas, selk'nam and kaweskar aborigenes.
Magdalene Island and Marta Inlet are the perfect places to watch typical fauna: especially penguins, cormorants and seals. This is the natural habitat par excellence of more than 100,000 Magellan penguins and one of the biggest penguin rookeries of the Chilean Patagonia.
We will sail along the Strait of Magellan to get to Magdalene Island, where we can enjoy panoramic views of Punta Arenas, Tierra del Fuego plains and oilfields in Cape Black and Laredo Bay.
While trekking we will see penguins and their hiding places along the coast up to the highest place in the island, where is the lighthouse in which the Environment Interpretive Center is, where we can read about the history of the strait and local fauna.
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Bulnes Fort
Breakfast at the hotel. Bulnes Fort, a historic place, is located to the south of Punta Arenas. We go there skirting the Magellan Strait and then entering by Punta Santa Ana.
This is a reconstruction evoking the first Chilean garrison in this southern area, which was inaugurated by the Bulnes Administration during the expedition of the schooner Ancud in 1843, and left behind five years afterwards when the first inhabitants moved to the existing Punta Arenas.
Once in the fort, we can visit the chapel, the jail, the parade ground, the stable and stud, built with axe, and local wood.
Back to Punta Arenas we will see the ancient ruins of King Don Felipe establishment, also called hunger port, due to the unfortunate death of all its inhabitants; we will also see the schooner of small-scale fishermen in Mansa Bay.
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Penguin Rookery on Seno Otway
Breakfast at the hotel.
Along Route 9 we will head for the stockbreeding establishment Kon Aiken and then take the coastal route in Pecket mine to reach our destination: the Penguin rookery on Seno Otway.
We intend to watch the Magellan penguins in their natural habitat. We will walk along roads that will take us to watch birds in their hiding places, out of them, or enjoy these animals from the viewpoint near the beach. All surrounded by flocks of wild geese, ostriches and sea birds.
Transfer to Puerto Natales. |
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Puerto Natales - Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers
Breakfast at the hotel.
We will set out from Puerto Natales surrounded by stunning and pure nature, watching forests of coligüe, cinnamon, lenga, ñire, chilco and calafate trees. Here we will also discover native fauna such as seals, cormorants, steamer ducks, condors and seagulls. We will sail the waters heading for Last Hope Sound.
The Balmaceda Mount, which is around 2,035 meters high, belongs to Bernardo O'Higgins National Park and forms the Andes Mountains. We will see Balmaceda Glacier and watch its ice falling into the cold fiord waters; and Serrano Glacier, situated to the north and where we can go just by land and is surrounded by a lagoon originated by the deicing.
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Towers of Paine
Breakfast at the hotel. Early in the morning we will set out from Puerto Natales towards Towers of Paine National Park. We will visit the one-thousand years old Milodón Cave, a stunning natural feature which has indescribably anthropological value, where it is probable that the first Patagonian men lived, as the Milodón, an extinct herbivorous animal.
Then we will go to the Biosphere Reserve: Towers of Paine National Park. Along the way we will cross lagoons full of aquatic vegetation and birds, and hills where we can find herds of guanacos grazing.
We will visit the most important places in this beautiful park, such as Nordenskjold Lake which covers the foot of the mountain with its emerald-color waters and originates the Big Fall forming Pehoé Lake.
We will do trekking along the Pingo River crossing it to pass by the sandy spot which delimits the borders of the lake; here we will watch ancient ice forms by the shore and the Grey Glacier accompanied by the magnificent scenario of hills, forests and Paine Mountains.
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Punta Arenas
Breakfast at the hotel. Traslado al Aeropuerto de Punta Arenas.
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