Wild Valdés Peninsula, Argentine Patagonia

Visiting Valdés has been at the top of my bucket list.  Since 2017 I have been going down this list visiting as many places as possible.  Valdés Peninsula cannot be missed on the map of Patagonia: it sticks out like a mushroom in the Atlantic Ocean.  The peninsula is semi-arid, flat with salt flats and no rivers.  It is linked to the mainland by a narrow isthmus which separates two calm gulfs, Golfo Nuevo on the south and the smaller Golfo San José on the north.  The isthmus is the gateway to the nature reserve, an UNESCO World Heritage site.  This spectacular place with its rugged coastlines is for lovers of marine mammals. The Valdés Peninsula is a refuge for lovers as marine mammals congregate there to have sex.  Valdés also plays the role of a maternity ward and a kindergarten. 

The peninsula is the meeting point of big marine mammals like Southern Right whales, orcas/killer whales, dolphins, elephant seals, sea lions, and sea birds such as Magellanic penguins and many other birds.  I knew that I would not be able to watch the whales at the end of February.  However, Valdés Peninsula without whales is still more enjoyable than Leblon during Carnival.  Since I moved back to Rio, 16 years ago, I always go away during the chaotic week of Carnival.  The whale-watching season lasts from June to December; some 1200 individuals can be spotted in September during peak time.  Many of the whales cavort close to the shore in Golfo Nuevo and spectators can watch them from their hotel rooms in Puerto Pirámides.

Adult Right whales are big, about 14 to 16 m long and weigh 35 to 37 metric tons.  They migrate to the gulfs to mate, and many females also give birth.  In Puerto Pirámides I saw plenty of whale’s bones: every tour boat operator proudly exhibits jaws or vertebras on its store front.  The whale skeleton displayed in the information center was as close to a whale that I could see.  Valdés is all about whales, orcas and seals’ trivia.  A former salt export port, Puerto Pirámides now lives off sea mammal tourism.  Argentina even declared September 25, the National Day of the Southern Right Whale!

It all started on September 25, 2002 when a juvenile whale got caught in the anchor chains of a whale watching boat.  It was rescued by the community who kept it wet during the low tide and helped it swim away when the tide rose.  The young whale regularly comes back to Puerto Pirámides.

My marine mammal experience was unfortunately disappointing.  Valdés Peninsula is also a stumping ground for killer whales, and I was counting on their occurrence to compensate for the Right whales’ absence.  No luck. They did not show up along Punta Norte where they are routinely spotted.  Killer whales, as their name indicates, are resourceful predators.  In Valdés, they have mastered an efficient technique to kill innocent seal calves.  They hunt in groups, and beach themselves to snatch the frolicking seals.  Their prey in their mouth, the orcas thrash their bodies to swim away from the beach[1].  I missed this bloody show by one month.  

In February, the orcas’ favorite food, seals and penguins, are everywhere to be smelled and seen.   One smells a very strong stench of decomposing fish and ammonia before seeing them.  Seals and penguins often share the same beaches and dive and swim together.  Not skittish at all, they are easily photographed.  Baby seals are still too young to swim in the open sea.  At low tide, they can be seen fooling around in narrow pools of water under the watch of adult seals.  Meanwhile, the mothers are basking in the sun on the beach nearby. 

Not all calves are playing in the pools, some are seen harassing their mothers for a suck.  Female seals have a tough life: they are pregnant all their life.  They mate soon after delivering their calves; contrary to humans, breastfeeding does not prevent pregnancy for any period of time! Just before giving birth, the female will push away her year-old calf, the beginning of its adult life.

If female seals knew how female Lesser Rhea behave, they would certainly envy them.  The Lesser Rhea, an endangered ostrich-like bird, is commonly spotted roaming the barren Valdés Peninsula.  I saw flocks of running chicks corralled by adult males just like kids in summer school.  As with the female seals, female rheas live in a harem but have no nurturing responsibilities. They lay their eggs on the ground in the genitor’s scrappy nest and move off in search of new romantic adventures.  As a result, the alpha male is in charge of incubating dozens of eggs.  The father can get nurturing help from a subordinate male.  These duties last for about six months.

Another land denizen is the herbivore guanaco, a camelid and a wild cousin of the llama.  I saw many herds in the peninsula and on the side of the road between Puerto Madryn and Valdés.  They are good jumpers and road fences are no obstacle to them. As a result road kills are sadly not unusual.  In Valdés, they share pastures with sheep, and are seen enjoying footbaths in the sea.  Being the biggest land animal has privileges, and I spotted one impudent guanaco eating the plants of a ranger’s house garden. 

I had seen rhea and guanaco in my previous Patagonian explorations; however, I met my first pichi, the hairy dwarf armadillo native of Argentina.  I spotted several of them leisurely crossing the road. Unintentionally, I frightened one into rolling into a ball, its defense mechanism.  In Valdés’ tourist spots, they are so unphased by photographers’ attention that one played hide and seek with me.

If I missed the leviathans, I compensated with other huge beasts, but from time past: dinosaurs!  I visited the impressive paleontology museum of Trelew which displays a rich collection of mega-size dinosaurs.  The museum is being enlarged to host its new find:  the Titanosaur, a 37 m long, 70 metric tons herbivore which roamed Patagonia during the late Cretaceous when the region was covered by a tropical forest.  Titanosaur is the largest dinosaur known to date, and its cast is exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History, AMNH in New York City.  Until the arrival of Titanosaur, the star exhibit in Trelew was a slightly younger dinosaur named Giganotosaurus carolinii, which is the largest carnivore in the world. 

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[1] Check this video commented by David Attenborough: The brutal attack of a pod of orcas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1dg9pVQp3M