“Our goal is to offer the possibility of observing and photographing pumas in Argentina and we are going to prioritise that every day.” ARGENTINA WILD EXPEDITIONS.
Patagonia Park is in the northwest of the province of Santa Cruz, Argentine Patagonia and was created in 2014 with the vision of guaranteeing a great conservation corridor between the Atlantic and Pacific basins.
Accompanied by a local puma tracker, we will look for the top predator of continental Patagonia, traveling through Santa Cruz steppe landscapes, basaltic plateaus, large lakes, volcanic cones, imposing cliffs, lands of vibrant colours, deep canyons and glacial valleys which invite you to photograph the nature of a pristine and incredible site.
‘La Posta de Los Toldos’ will be our starting point to enter the park, where we will look for the architect of the ecosystem and top predator of Patagonia, the Puma. The expeditions includes daily outings of approximately 7 hours of medium intensity and walking cross country. According to the signs of our tracker when finding a puma, a slow approach will be made as far as the puma allows us and in the same way, we will leave the place where the puma or pumas are.
We are going to spend most of the time looking for pumas, but we will also visit the Pinturas River Canyon to photograph incredible species, such as the Wolffsohn’s viscacha in its rocky places (endemic to the west of Santa Cruz and the adjacent area, the XII Region, in Chile) and the Andean condor, either on their perches or in flight.
We will visit a field next to the Patagonia Park to walk through its rocky areas frequented by pumas and enjoy its wonderful landscapes. Within this ranch, we will observe amazing cave paintings of the original inhabitants.
An amazing site within the park is ‘Tierra de Colores’ (Land of Colors), made up of hills and canyons that come from the volcanoes resulting from the continental drift of Gondwana, which later gave rise to present-day South America, Africa and Australia.
As the Argentina Wild Expeditions team, we believe that it is very important that people trust our work and know that searches can take several hours, even days, therefore, patience and waiting are essential. Sometimes, we are lucky to see pumas at the beginning of the expedition and at some other time, it takes more time. This is the reason why the encounter is not 100% sure. We look for wild animals in their natural habitat. Some sightings may be under conditions difficult to access or not as close as one would expect. That is why, all the sightings are different and, in each expedition, we prioritize the safety of both the passengers and the puma.
Target species: Puma, Geoffroy’s cat, Wolffsohn’s viscacha, Pampas fox, Guanaco, Molinas’s hog-nosed skunk, Screaming hairy armadillo, Andean condor, Black-chested buzzard-eagle, White-bellied seedsnipe, Rufous-bellied seedsnipe, Tawny-throated dotterel, Short-billed miner, Peregrine falcon, Lesser rhea, Plumbeous sierra-finch, among others.
See Check-list of species in EcoRegistros for the Patagonia Park:
Season: Year-round.
Recommended minimum duration: 4 days
Base: ‘Posta de los Toldos’, inside the Patagonia Park. Another option is a hotel in the town Perito Moreno.
Air Terminal: Gral. Enrique Mosconi International Airport (CRD), Comodoro Rivadavia, Chubut.
The minimum and maximum temperatures range from -8° to 20°C (18° to 68°F).
