Searching for Patagonia's Apex Predators

It is a risky business, putting your life on the line for a meal, but that is exactly what a specialist group of orcas in a far-flung corner of the Patagonian wilderness have learnt to do. In addition to hunting cooperatively, chasing their prey to exhaustion, stunning herded fish with their tails and causing waves to destabilise prey on ice, these incredible and highly intelligent predators are also using wave power to their advantage. Lurking just offshore at Punta Norte on Argentina’s remote Peninsula Valdez (an area more commonly associated with breeding southern right whales from June to October), they use their speed and agility to launch themselves towards unsuspecting sealion pups playing in the shallows.

Choosing their moments immediately before and after high tide, timing is absolutely critical. Get it wrong, and they will perish, beached, but get it right, and they will live another day. Intentional stranding, as this unique phenomenon is known, occurs only here, and for just a few months every year. In March 2024, we intend to be there. Travelling as part of a new small group departure - Patagonia's Pumas & Orcas - we'll need patience and luck to witness the moment for ourselves, but I for one, cannot wait to give it a go.

Oh, and did I mention penguins? Whilst in the area, we'll be visiting one of the largest colonies of Magellanic penguins on Earth. Why not?! But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Our journey will actually start with 24 hours in the buzzing city of Buenos Aires before we fly south to El Calafate, gateway to the stunning vistas for which Patagonia is known. The turquoise waters of Lago Argentina, the ice-blue glare of Los Glaciares National Park, the jagged granitic ridges and ice-capped mountains beyond. We'll discover that plenty of birds flourish here, from torrent ducks to rheas and owls to woodpeckers. We shall feast our eyes on the astounding beauty of one of the most spectacular landscapes on the planet before crossing the great Patagonian ice field into Chile. Here, we get back to our roots, searching for pumas and other wildlife, in the magnificent Torres del Paine National Park.

This is a land of superlatives, where condors soar overhead whilst hog-nosed skunk and hairy armadillo delight on the ground. We'll carefully watch guanaco as they, in turn, watch, ever wary, for the presence of puma. These remarkable big cats will be our focus, and we hope to see for ourselves and begin to understand the challenges of being a solitary predator in this inhospitable yet jaw-droppingly beautiful environment. We'll follow by vehicle and, when necessary, on foot, and the anticipation and thrill of having the world’s fourth-largest cat in close proximity cannot be denied. I'm grinning thinking about it, and I'm beyond excited just thinking about it. I simply can't wait to get out there.

If I have a bucket list trip, this surely has to be it! I do hope you can join me and witness this wildlife spectacle.

Find out more about our Patagonia's Pumas & Orcas small group tour, or contact our team to book.