CHILE & ARGENTINA:
Andes, Patagonia, Pampas
Tierra Del Fuego and Iguazu Falls
General Natural History and Birdwatching
November, 2009
November is spring in the south of South America. This tour explores the most beautiful natural areas of both countries at the finest season. From Santiago we pass through Mediterranean-like wine country to the rocky Pacific coastline. South, we visit the picturesque Chilean Lake District and stay at a ski lodge on the slopes of the Andes in Puyehue National Park, with strolls through flowering alpine meadows and forests of Southern Beech. Still further south in the Andes is famous Torres del Paine National Park, where blue glaciers carve the peaks into jagged spires. Condors, Black-necked Swans, and Guanacos and Rheas, relatives of Llamas and Ostriches respectively, are common on the undulating grasslands.
From the Straits of Magellan we fly south to Tierra del Fuego, a land of windswept grasslands, beech forests and snow-capped mountains. At Ushuaia, the southernmost town in the Americas, we cruise the Beagle Channel to view mountainous islands and seabirds. North we stay two nights on the Valdez Peninsula, a park of Patagonian steppe that juts into the Atlantic. Here we observe colonies of Elephant Seals, Sea Lions, and a million Magellanic Penguins, and boat out to view Southern Right Whales.
Near Buenos Aires we explore the pampas, the variety of marsh, meadow and coastal birds is astonishing, including screamers, Greater Rhea, Elegant-crested Tinamou and the Firewood Gatherer. Iguazu Falls is a mile-long arc of more than a dozen falls, surrounded by verdant subtropical forest inhabited by parrots, trogons, and the Toco Toucan, the world's largest. Popular Argentine naturalist Santiago de la Vega, author of five books on Argentine nature, has led this tour three times with Mark Smith. If the group size is over nine, he will be joined by Marc Egger.
November 2009
GROUND COST: $5,500
LEADERS: Santiago de la Vega
LIMIT: 9
