Blogs from Punta Tombo, Chubut, Argentina, South America

Punta Tombo - Magellanic Penguin Colony This is the largest MP colony outside of the Antarctica. there are about 600,000 penguins that inhabit this colony.... read more

Thursday 21/3/13 – We woke up, made breakfast and then packed up with full confidence that the town of Rio Gallegos would provide us with a new rear tyre and a mechanic to change Kenz’s chain and sprocket – perhaps we were expecting too much. We rode around to the Honda dealer we passed on the way into town yesterday, but they had no tyres or mechanic. The other large shop in town (a Yamaha dealer) also couldn’t help us so we then rode around trying to find someone to help us. We found an address on an internet forum for a moto mechanic that lived out in a dodgy suburb. When we arrived at the shop it was closed and there were two Argentinean riders who also required his help. They phoned the number in ... read more

Druhy den celodenni vylet za tucnakama, dinosaurama a velsskym cajem... Vyjizdime z Puerto Madryn na jih, ceka nas asi 170 km jenom tam, ale nastesti tentokrat je to vetsinou po asfaltove silnici. Vyuzivame maximalni rychlost 120, ale stejne nam to trva zhruba 2 hodiny se tam dostat. Zrovna je obdobi lihnuti, tak mame docela stesti a krome vajicek vidime i cerstve vylihnuta mladatka. Cestou zpet se stavujeme v Trelew v muzeu dinosauru a pak uz jedeme do vesnicky Gaiman, kde se usidlili velsti pristehovalci a jsou tam vyhlasene cajovny (pravy anglicky caj se sendvicema a dortikama) - trochu jsme se toho peciva prejedli, a to nam jeste spoustu zbylo - zabalili nam to a meli jsme druhy den na snidani. Musela jsem si pak dat pecivovy detox v podobe ovocneho salatu a jogurtu po zbytek dne... ... read more

Die Tiere bei diesen beiden Ausfluegen konnten wir wirklich sehr nah bestaunen. In Punta Ninfas mussten wir erst eine Klippe runterklettern um zu den See Elefanten zu gelangen, es hat sich auf jeden Fall gelohnt. Auch an diesem Strand waren noch nicht so viele See Elefanten da , es gab also noch keinen wirklichen Harem, aber dafuer konnten wir ziemlich nah an die Tiere ran. Einer der beiden Machos/Maenner mochte uns allerdings ueberhaupt nicht und war die ganze Zeit waehrend wir dort waren ziemlich nervoes. Na ist ja auch verstaendlich, ich wuerde es auch nicht moegen wenn Touris durch mein Schlafzimmer rennen und glotzen. Diese See Elefanten sind mal echt riesig und haben mir Respekt eingefloesst. Leider oder zum Glueck haben an diesem Tag keine Machos miteinander gekaempft, dafuer waere mir der Abstand dann doch etwas ... read more

A hundred kilometres or so South of Trelew is Punta Tombo, home of the largest colony of Magellan penguins in the world. It was a bit of a tedious journey there through landscapes which rarely changed. Still, our guide told us all about sheep farming and the production of wool to keep us entertained. As we got closer she changed the topic to the penguins and suddenly we all started to pay a bit more attention! How to tell you about the penguins? They were cute, surprisingly noisy, and also a bit smelly!! There were hundreds of thousands of them wandering around, going for a swim (or maybe a bite to eat), sunbathing, or having an afternoon kip. It was amazing to get so close to them and they are obviously used to tourists clicking away ... read more