EL CALAFATE Y EL CHALTEN
After the beautiful Chilean interlude (even if I can’t say I’ve known Chile), I took a new bus to return to Argentina. Again the customs and its controls and an acceptable route that this time was very short, about 3 hours, towards El Calafate. I had a strong need to rest and unplug for a moment after the very intense week dedicated to felines so I decided to do absolutely nothing but enjoy the town with its lagoons and its prized piece: the Perito Moreno glacier, a world icon. The fame of the glacier is due to the fact that I believe it is the only glacier that is found in the temperate zone of the globe, in addition to being objectively beautiful to look at with its very bright colors that encourage photography and even though I am not a landscape photographer, I could not help but take some pictures, even just to be able to say that I had been there one day.
Daniele Dell’Osa with his inseparable Leica Ultravid 8×32.
The other days I had taken some quiet walks in a lagoon in the surroundings of the town, coming across some birds of prey that were giving their shows in flight during their hunting sessions. The strong wind had helped me a lot in taking the photos because it kept the subject still while it was gliding against the wind and it had been relatively easy to take the pictures.
The burrowing Owl, last days of my journey.
After a few days I had reached El Chalten, known in Argentina as the capital of trekking. I didn’t have much energy to run into the infamous Fitz Roy, the iconic mountain that is reflected in the crystal blue lagoons so even in El Chalten I had limited myself to a few easy paths but which had still given me some satisfaction: I had met “El Huemul”, a ungulate very similar to the deer and since there are not many living specimens, they had been important shots that I had then shared with the reserve that manages the park and that monitored all the specimens and in fact, I remember, they had made me fill out a form where they asked for all the information on the position where the animal had been encountered. Then the day arrived to take the first plane back after more than a month. The first and only plane had been the one that took me from Buenos Aires to the Rio Negro.
USHUAIA, EL FIN DEL MUNDO
After a very short internal flight lasting an hour I had finally arrived at the extreme tip of South America, Ushuaia. There was a very long line to take a taxi and finally after a good half hour of queuing I managed to take mine to my accommodation. I had found a single room in an apartment slightly out of the way but the good thing was that I practically had the entire apartment all to myself because the other room was empty. And I had paid very little. Immediately after arriving and doing a bit of shopping, I went out straight away to get to the marina to take the classic tourist photo with the writing “Ushuaia” (this is a must) and in the meantime I had started to scrutinize all the kiosks in the marina that offered the various excursion activities and crossings of the Beagle Channel. I had already photographed Magellanic penguins in Chubut, but I wasn’t very satisfied because I was looking for photos with the subjects in contact with the water while the ones I had taken further north were photos of penguins going up the coasts to nest. I had chosen what to do, an afternoon outing sailing along the Beagle Channel with a visit to the various islets where there were huge colonies of pelicans and sea lions. I had photographed the latter a thousand times by now but each time the context and light changed and so it was as if it were always a new situation. I also had in mind to dedicate myself to birds of prey and do you know what I did? I asked the taxi driver (even with a little shame) to take me to the dump. Why? Because in the dump there is always easy food and Patagonia has many species of necrophagous birds, such as the Carancho Caracara, vultures and Chimango.
The Caracara in the dump.
I was in the southernmost part of America in a dump looking for birds of prey to photograph. Yes, exactly like that. The surprise was the beautiful eagle of Chile, with the binoculars I saw its typical bluish color that I would never have expected to meet. Majestic and beautiful.
Black chested buzzard Eagle.
Then a new navigation dedicated to penguins. I had the opportunity to admire them in courtship, during mating and while they swam a few meters from the shore in search of food.
Penguin interactions and courtship in Ushuaia.
The final pearl was meeting the Papua penguin which was not at all obvious and unlike the Magellanic, it had orange legs and beak. The last day in the land of fire I dedicated myself to the search for the famous red-headed woodpecker, the carpintero, always accompanied by my trusted taxi driver to whom I also left a nice tip for helping me in the search for my subjects. Five beautiful days, now the climb begins.
Male Magellanic woodpecker.
BACK IN CHUBUT
A direct internal flight from Ushuaia to Trelew for a second visit to the places already visited the previous month. In nature photography everything changes in a second and you can always find yourself in unexpected situations. In September I had become friends with the owner of the agency that organized the boat safaris and also with the official photographer of the organization and having remained in contact in the meantime that I ventured into Southern Patagonia, we then met again to do some photographic trips together. We had first gone to visit a colony of sea lions that lived permanently near a small port and we had witnessed a spectacular scene: a very strange interaction between a young sea lion and a seagull.
The strange interactions between a Sea lion and a Seagull.
Initially I had thought of predation but in the end it had not been so. And it had not even been a game. A truly strange behavior but that had given me some beautiful photos and a very particular document. Furthermore, there was the alpha male of the colony who was courting the females.
Sea lions of the small port in Chubut.
The next morning I went on a boat safari and there was another great surprise: in addition to the Commerson’s dolphins, a very rare southern bottlenose dolphin had come to visit and began jumping repeatedly a few dozen meters from the safari dinghy. A truly absurd and spectacular encounter.
Commerson dolphin from the boat.
For a whole week, almost every day had gone like this: morning, boat safari and in the afternoon, filming and taking photos of sea lions. The days passed slowly and full of emotions that my heart and eyes could barely contain, but suddenly I realized that the last week of travel was upon us.
TOWARDS THE END OF THE DREAM, MAYBE.
So the day had come to leave this great country, I don’t know how I felt, the emotions were confused, but I remember very well the strength and energy I was filled with. I felt that this had been exactly what I wanted, a real adventure trip, alone with my camera and binoculars to discover the places, letting myself be guided by the events and getting help from the locals.
Photo’s by Daniele Dell’Osa