Chile - Argentina 2000 : Birding Trip Report
Birding Trip Report Itinirary Birding Links
Torres Del Paine Los Glaciares Peninsula Valdez Iguazu Los Esteros Del Ibera Buenos Aires

Intro

These pages contain a brief summary of our trip to Chile and Argentina. We've visited this area between oct-20 and nov-12 2000. In this short time-span, we've focussed on 5 area's: (1) Torres Del Paine, (2) Los Glaciaras National Park, (3) Peninsulla Valdez, (4) Iguazu National Park and (5) Los Esteros Del Ibera. You can find the full Itinirary further on.
Click here to enlarge the map. The green trace shows our flight schedule. The red areas are discussed in these pages. The map itself is taken from the Lonely Planet.

For a concise trip summary, check below.

The team

All pictures on these pages were made by Lukas, Erik, Erik, Ann, Kathleen, Jan and Greet.
(unless stated otherwise, of course)

Site by Erik Struyf & Jan Van Bulck. For more info, contact us.

Itinirary

It was a great trip, offering the most extreme variety possible (ranging from ice-covered Patagonia to subtropical rain forrest in the North). We may not be hard-core birdwatchers, though, we took any opportunity to spot those birds and we ended up with about 130 species. You can find all bird-observations by visited region on a seperate page.

We were able to arrange all domestic flights beforehand through a Mercosur Airpas. The Leuven branch of Connections was very helpful in this quest.
Typically, LAN Chile and Aerolineas Argentinas are not very keen to offer Mercosur seats to passengers flying with other trans-atlantic carriers (Iberia in our case), though, with a good travel agent on your side, it should be possible.


oct-20 Flight Brussels (Belgium) - Madrid - Santiago (Chile)  
Lodging
oct-21

Domestic flight Santiago - Punta Arenas

 
oct-22 Bus to Puerto Natales (3.5h) & hike to Albergue Chileno  
Albergue Chileno
oct-23 Torres Day 2: Torres Del Paine & return  
Hosteria Las Torres
oct-24 Torres Day 3: bus and boat to Albergue Pehoe & hike to Glaciar Grey  
Albergue Gray
oct-25 Torres Day 4: return to Puerto Natales  
oct-26 Bus to Calafate (7.5h) - Get trips organised (thx to Pascale!)  
oct-27 Perito Moreno Glaciar excursion & transport to El Chalten  
oct-28 Hike to Cerro Torre Base Camp & Glaciar Grande  
Albergue Del Glaciar
oct-29 Transport to Rio Gallegos & Flight to Trelew & Transport to Puerto Piramide  
oct-30 Day 1 Peninsula Valdez: Punta Norte, Caleta Valdés, Punta Delgada  
Hosteria El Libanes
oct-31 Day 2 Peninsula Valdez: Whale excursion & Isla de los Pajeros - toTrelew  
Residencial Argentino
nov-1 Reserva Provincial Punta Tombo  
Residencial Argentino
nov-2 Flight Trelew - Buenos Aires - Iguazu  
nov-3 Iguazu NP: Paseo Inferior, Paseo Superior, Sendero Macuco  
Los Helechos
nov-4 Foz do Iguaçu (Brasil): Garanta Del Diabolo - Puerto Canoas  
Los Helechos
nov-5 Safari Fotografico (Explorador Expediciones)  
Los Helechos
nov-6 Iguazu - Ruinas de San Ignacio  
Hospedaje El Descanso
nov-7 Transport to Posadas & Colonia Pelegrini (Los Esteros Del Ibera)  
nov-8 Boat Safari Los Esteros - Horse Riding  
Nande Reta
nov-9 Boat Safari El Canal - Transport to Posadas  
nov-10 Flight Posadas - Buenos Aires  
nov-12 Flight Buenos Aires - Madrid - Brussels