Right Whales / Valdes Peninsula – Argentina

We will pick you up at Trelew airport and drive to our estancia lodge in Península Valdes.

During the first half of the trip we will devote our time to photographing elephant seals, aiming to capture two amazing situations: males fighting and females giving birth. We will spend all day at the colony, returning to the lodge for a lunch break and rest. We will also try to see Peregrine Falcons, Penguins and pelagic birds like petrels and albatross. A highlight is a large Magellanic Penguin colony, which we will visit a couple of times, as lots of predators hunt them. We will also embark in a couple of navigations in the gulf waters in the morning or late afternoon in order to get close to the Southern Right Whales.

The second half of the trip we will spend our time at the beaches with the main objective of spotting the orcas as they hunt the elephant seals pups. We will arrive to the beach 3 hours before the high tide and leave 2 hours after it. This is a waiting experience and patience is the key. While we wait for the orcas, photographing the young seals is lots of fun as they give plenty of chance of really nice shots. We will take lunch boxes so that we’ll avoid wasting time going back to the lodge, unless you request to do so. Although Orcas are seen regularly in the Peninsula, we might not see them at all during these days. They are the apex predators and are not really numerous.

Depending on weather conditions we may change the order of the itinerary as we need a calm ocean for the whales photography experience.

On the last day, we transfer to Trelew to fly back to Buenos Aires.