Valdes Peninsula
Note: Click on the photos to see them full size
The beach at North Point, tourists are restricted to the dunes behind which means that you are 50-100m from the action.
What the killer whales (orcas) come for, sea lion pups learning to swim in the waves near the beach.
Cheryl trying to convince the armadillo to use some block out...
Distant view of elephant seals.
The Valdes Peninsula is well known for its wildlife and was granted World Heritage status a few years ago. I remember hearing about this place 20 years ago when I was last in South America. More recently it became famous as a result of the David Attenborough TV documentary - The Blue Planet. That program showed killer whales chasing sea lion pups in shallow water right up to the beach. Now thousands of tourists flock to the North Point to witness this incredible scene in February and March when the sea lion pups are learning to swim.
So we joined the throng and took a day tour of the peninsula. North point was the first stop and everyone was hoping to see a killer whale. But alas, luck was not with us that day and there were none to be seen. We would have been happy just to see the sea lions however the National Parks people have banned people from the beaches on the whole peninsula so we were kept to the dunes behind the beach and the closest we could get to them was about 50m away. I understand why they have done this to protect the animals. Unfortunately, it means that you do not get much of a wildlife experience. If you want to see a sea lion don´t bother with Valdes, go to Kangaroo Island in South Australia, there National Parks rangers will take you to the beach to see them pretty close.
The main attraction ended up being an armadillo which was very tourist friendly. They are wierd looking things being very cockroach-like in appearance.
Next stop on our peninsula tour was Caleta Valdes to see the Elephant Seals. Again we had a very distant view of the animals which was pretty ho-hum.
My advice if you are thinking of visiting Valdes is to buy some powerful binoculars and a huge telephoto lens if you want photos.
The beach at North Point, tourists are restricted to the dunes behind which means that you are 50-100m from the action.
What the killer whales (orcas) come for, sea lion pups learning to swim in the waves near the beach.
Cheryl trying to convince the armadillo to use some block out...
Distant view of elephant seals.
The Valdes Peninsula is well known for its wildlife and was granted World Heritage status a few years ago. I remember hearing about this place 20 years ago when I was last in South America. More recently it became famous as a result of the David Attenborough TV documentary - The Blue Planet. That program showed killer whales chasing sea lion pups in shallow water right up to the beach. Now thousands of tourists flock to the North Point to witness this incredible scene in February and March when the sea lion pups are learning to swim.
So we joined the throng and took a day tour of the peninsula. North point was the first stop and everyone was hoping to see a killer whale. But alas, luck was not with us that day and there were none to be seen. We would have been happy just to see the sea lions however the National Parks people have banned people from the beaches on the whole peninsula so we were kept to the dunes behind the beach and the closest we could get to them was about 50m away. I understand why they have done this to protect the animals. Unfortunately, it means that you do not get much of a wildlife experience. If you want to see a sea lion don´t bother with Valdes, go to Kangaroo Island in South Australia, there National Parks rangers will take you to the beach to see them pretty close.
The main attraction ended up being an armadillo which was very tourist friendly. They are wierd looking things being very cockroach-like in appearance.
Next stop on our peninsula tour was Caleta Valdes to see the Elephant Seals. Again we had a very distant view of the animals which was pretty ho-hum.
My advice if you are thinking of visiting Valdes is to buy some powerful binoculars and a huge telephoto lens if you want photos.
posted by Laurie Barram at 12:21 am
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