Our fearless guide Javier surveying the waterfall from a cliff side in the snow and wind.

Chile 2016 in the Rear View Part 1: Patagonia

Posted on April 27, 2016

I’ve got to be honest, it’s has been pretty hard to sum up this trip. This was my third time roaming around this incredibly diverse country, but my first time bringing a photography workshop to see this amazing place. During our journey we were lucky enough to see every major animal in Torres del Paine National park and also were graced with some incredible sunrises and sets.

 

The next morning, for our first sunrise the clouds had split and the winds had subsided to a paltry 40-50mph. This ended up bestowing a beautiful sunrise upon us. The winds create waves on the surreal opaque blue waters of Lago Pehoe that can reach multiple feet at times.
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A little later in the day we headed up into the hills to find some wildlife. One of the more prominent animals in the region is the Guanaco. They are in the camalid family like a llama or a camel and can be found roaming round most of Chile.

 

Sun momentarily piercing through the clouds over Glacier Grey.

On our third day we headed out on a boat trip through the icebergs in Lago Grey to approach Glacier Grey. The flat light of the day made the already blue ice of the glacier pop even more. On our way back to the hotel we were incredibly lucky and came across a pair of Huemuls (South Andean Deer). At one point in recent history there were as few as 350 huemuls left alive. Through rigorous efforts of the Argentinian and Chilean governments the population has rebounded to a still critically endangered number of roughly 2500.
Two Huemuls (South Andean Deer) in the middle of a rain storm.

One of the more elusive animals in Patagonia is the mountain lion. I am lucky enough to know where a few different populations of mountain lions reside within Torres del Paine, so we set out on our last evening to try and capture some images of these amazing animals. After a while of scouring the hillsides without any luck we decided to head back to our waiting van before it got too dark. As we were heading back into civilization a mountain lion passed in our path within 150 ft allowing us to get some great images.

A cougar surveys her territory.

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