Valdés Peninsula, located in the chubut province of Patagonia, Argentina.
The coast of the Valdés Peninsula
Due to geographical relations, it is here that the Brazilian Warm Current and the Malvinas Cold Current meet. It provides a good living environment for large numbers of plankton, seaweed and shellfish, and they become an abundant food source for marine wildlife. The main marine animals in the bays of the Valdés Peninsula include sea lions, walruses, seals, humpback whales, sea veins and Magellan penguins.
The Valdés Peninsula is dry, desolate and windy, with a typical permafrostal steppe climate. There are more than 130 species of vegetation, of which 38 are distributed only in the Argentine Plateau of Patagonia. Wildlife on the peninsula includes Wild South American alpacas, little American ostriches, Patagonian foxes and Patagonian hares, where the footprints of long-haired feuds can also be found.
Therefore, the United Nations inscribed the area on the List of Natural and Cultural Heritage of Mankind in 1999 to protect this rare and fragile ecosystem. The Argentine government is also planning to develop the area as the first national marine park, which has played a role in promoting local tourism and protecting the ecology.
The tourism resources in this area are very rich and relatively concentrated, and if all the important tourist attractions are traveled, the time is 2 and a half days, and the relaxation is 3-4 days, all according to personal preferences.
I went this time because a friend found a special ticket from Buenos Aires to Trevu (an important city in Chubut province), so I went for 5 days and 4 nights, and this time it was super lucky to see almost all the wildlife. The landlord is still refreshed in his heart until now.
Austro aerolíneas Argentinas, which flies to other parts of the country, is generally the Brazilian e190 small aircraft
The other is andes Airlines http://www.andesonline.com/ landing in puerto madryn, near the Valdés Peninsula.
But the plane was too old, and I was a little afraid to see it, so I didn't choose their home.
There is also a way to get to the bus, retiro station departure, generally from the http://www.plataforma10.com/ to check the price, if it is a student, you can enjoy a 20% discount with the student certificate. The one-way trip takes 20 hours, and the round-trip fare is around 2,000 pesos ($150).
The landlord grabbed the Emirates airline special ticket for 2300 pesos round-trip, flying trev, and then you can take the airport bus directly to Puerto Madeleine, the fare is about 150 pesos (10 US dollars). Or take a taxi to downtown Trevu, where there's a famous dinosaur museum where taxi drivers can take them directly to the museum's entrance for a ticket of 70 pesos.
Trev Airport
At Trev Airport, I got off the plane and saw the iconic dinosaur fossil decoration at the baggage pick-up place. In ancient times, the entire Patagonia region was a dense forest where many large herbivorous dinosaurs lived. The world's largest known "Argentinosaurus" was found in Chubut Province. Therefore, the city of Trev is also a dinosaur research center.
Thick dinosaur wind
Schematic of the Argentine Air Force's offensive against the Royal Task Force
In addition, trev is also a city of heroes, during the 1982 Anglo-Armagh War, fighters and bomber formations from Trev airfield were tasked with attacking the Royal Turks Expeditionary Fleet. There is an Islands War Memorial in the capital City of LaVinson Rawsen, which interested students can check out.
Museum of Paleontological Dinosaurs
It is home to all the dinosaur species currently found in patagonia, and what is even more rare is that these exhibits are authentic, and a leg bone of a thunder dragon is specially erected at the door for visitors to touch and take photos.
Dinosaur eggs
laboratory
The research room at the Institute is semi-open. There is a special piece of glass that allows visitors to see the work scene of the researchers in the research room, and I personally saw a pikkara with a large bone being transported into the research institute for cleaning.
Scientists at work
Dinosaur skeletons in the hall of the pavilion
A glimpse of the laboratory
Freshly cleaned up fossils
After visiting the museum, turn right and walk three streets to the bus station, which runs every half hour towards Puerto Madryn for 40 pesos. The travel time is one hour.
The place where the Welsh landed in Argentina that year
It's already afternoon when you arrive in Puerto Madryn, and after checking in to a booked hostel, it's a half-day city tour, and since it's a seaside city, you can go to the beach and blow the sea breeze, but even in December, the water in Patagonia is still cold, and the temperature is only about ten degrees.
The Argentine flag stands and flies here
Head east along the Corniche to a site. The first uninvited visitors to Puerto Madryn that year were 150 Welsh sailors from Liverpool, England. More than a hundred people crossed the Atlantic Ocean and came here, and after discovering that it was a natural harbor, they planned to stay.
The landing site of the sailors
Due to the harsh environment, it once lived in such a natural cave for decades
Here, I would like to give a special thanks to the staff of the hostel "hi patagonia hostel", whose enthusiasm made me unforgettable. When I stayed in it on the first day, I was very warm and friendly and gave me a map, first introduced some vegetable shops, butchers, coffee shops, convenience stores and other locations around the hotel, and marked them for me one by one. Then I took a map of the Valdés Peninsula and asked if I had any travel plans. They can introduce me if not. At one point, I had planned the next day whether to go to the Valdés Peninsula to see whales or to see penguins at punta tombo. They made it clear to me on the spot that I would recommend that you go seeing the whales tomorrow. Because tomorrow's weather is good, and most importantly the wind is small, this is a godsend in the Patagonia region, which is known for its harsh climate. So I decided to report to Valdés the next day.
Valdés was half bold
The Valdés Peninsula covers an area of 3,625 square kilometres, with the lowest point of the island being 35 metres below sea level and the highest being only 100 metres above sea level. Valdés consists of a series of bays, cliffs, tidal flats, coasts, and islands. The coastline of the peninsula is 400 km long. Therefore, there are only two options for visiting the peninsula, either rent your own car or just follow the group. It is almost impossible to want to hike a sacred horse. But there are buses that only take you to the gate of the reserve, and then hundreds of kilometers will be very sad if you don't have a car. So I could only obediently report for a whole day's group.
There is a mini-museum on the peninsula with specimens of the region's organisms on display
As soon as you enter the gate of the reserve, there is a mini museum that briefly introduces the distribution of flora and fauna on the peninsula. This huge humpback whale skeleton suddenly attracted everyone's attention.
The only observation point on the island
Whale watching port
After that, you will come to the highlight of today's play, go out to sea to watch whales. The cost I've already socialised on travel, whale watching + park tours is around 1100 pesos ($90). Whale watching lasts from one and a half to two hours. But because of animal habits, these observational activities are all character-fighting. Sometimes you may go out to sea for a spin and find nothing, so you have to return in vain. I remember when the captain introduced us again, he said that we are not a zoo here, and the animals here are not obliged to perform for tourists. We are their guests and hope they can warmly welcome us and wish us all the best of luck.
British little cute baby
The British little cute baby who accompanied me has been silly in the car, and wearing a life jacket is even more cute.
The captain is explaining the precautions to everyone
Tractors used to tug boats
This tractor is used to tow the boat, and after the tourists board the boat on the shore, a tractor pushes the boat into the sea.
Overlooking the coast of the peninsula from "New Bay"
The other side
The whale watching boat we were on
Because whale watching is a human character, the whale jumps out of the water or breathes for a few seconds, and tourists sometimes have no time, at this time the captain will use a short password of 11 o'clock, 2 o'clock, and 5 o'clock to mark the direction, so that everyone can quickly follow the captain's order to "fight the whale". xd.
A sea so quiet that people want to cry. That's why the Southern Right Whale chose this area as a breeding base for generations
This is the sea water I photographed when I went to sea that day, and it was so quiet that people wanted to cry. Just watching the whale jump up and down, spraying a V-shaped column of water, accompanied by a roar like a steam locomotive, the situation is really beautiful and indescribable.
It's the end of the season for whale activity, and since Valdés is the breeding sea for whales, all we see is the mother whale cruising with the baby whales that are three or four months old. Don't look at only a few months, the little ones have to follow their mother to learn to swim, learn to prey, learn to communicate, and the homework task is still very heavy!
The full tour will be conducted in Spanish and English, so there is no need to worry about language issues
On the other side of the peninsula is a colony of elephant seals.
The South American ostrich, which is much smaller than the African ostrich.
A breeding area for Magellan penguins on the island. The little ones are at this time of year when they go ashore to raise their children, but the numbers on the Valdés Peninsula are small. South of Trevu, punta tombo is home to the world's largest breeding colony of Magellan penguins, with a total of one million penguins living in the area. I'll introduce it to you later.
On the other shore of the island, miracles occurred. Our luck was incredible as we saw killer whales!
According to the staff, killer whales are generally difficult to encounter, because the sea area is vast, killer whales will hunt and feed throughout the entire coastline of thousands of kilometers, and observing killer whales can only rely on luck to see if they can touch them. And we, today, are undoubtedly the luckiest tourists.
This photo was taken in the afternoon, and the low tide waters form a large swamp in the middle, and the elephant seals sleeping at the bottom of the photo can be seen, and the black dots in the distant sea are killer whales waiting for their time. The tour guide said that when the tide rises at eight or nine o'clock in the evening, the area will be submerged, and at that time, it will be a hunting feast for killer whales. Unfortunately, we don't have enough time, if it is a car rental and self-driving, wait patiently for a while, there will be wonderful scenes.
Camping gear is allowed in the reserve, and it is also a good choice to stay for one night if you are in the mood. But be sure to pay attention to setting up tents to shelter from the wind, the strong winds of Patagonia, especially at night, are really not covered.
This is the little British cute baby who has been smiling at me in the car, cute!
At six o'clock in the evening, after a long day of travel back to Puerto Madryn, I just happened to encounter the sunset, which was a beautiful sight. It also brought my journey to a successful conclusion today.