Visiting Patagonia

These photos are all from the southern part of Chile, where permanent snow and ice make the landscape immediately different from the northern part of the country. I visited Patagonia during the Chilean summer. On the left is a photo of a glacier, one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. It almost looks like a rush of water came down the mountain and suddenly froze in place.

Patagonian Fjords

Something else I did while traveling in Patagonia was take a quick boat trip through the fjords. These two pictures show some of the many waterfalls that can be seen along the way. Patagonia has some of the most amazing scenery in the world. The mountains, waterfalls, and turquoise water all combine to create spectacular views.

Milodón Cave

Another interesting place to visit in Chilean Patagonia is Milodón Cave. The cave has a wide entrance that opens into an enormous chamber. Archaeological discoveries in and around the cave have also provided evidence of people living in this region thousands of years ago.

Wildlife of Patagonia

This area of Chile is heavily populated with wildlife. Above are some baby birds that I found living in a rotted part of a large tree. On the right, a fox can be seen standing in front of a snow-capped mountain. This fox was with three other foxes that were passing by and seemed used to humans.

Guanacos in Torres del Paine

Above are some guanacos in Torres del Paine National Park. This was one of my favorite national parks in the world, and I enjoyed simply sitting for hours watching the guanacos. In the first picture, the guanaco on the right appeared to be the leader of the group. He was definitely the biggest and would chase the others around, sometimes biting at their hind legs. The picture on the right shows a lone guanaco walking with a huge snow-covered mountain in the background.

The guanacos are some of the most famous wildlife in the national park, but this area of the world is also a bird watcher’s paradise. Unfortunately, this trip was several years before I started to care about photography, so I don’t have any close-up shots. I saw plenty of birds throughout the region, including a colony of hundreds of cormorants that appear only as black dots in one of my photos.

Torres del Paine

In my previous photo with the guanacos, the mountains in the background are some of the famous peaks of Torres del Paine. The scenery throughout the park is incredible, with huge glaciers above mountains, turquoise rivers, and waterfalls cutting through the landscape.

Above is a picture of the Torres del Paine mountains reflected in a lake, along with more of the glaciers that dominate the landscape. Whether seen from the water or while traveling through the mountains, the combination of ice, turquoise lakes, and enormous peaks made Patagonia one of the most memorable places I’ve visited.