Watching the sea lions on Península Valdes was cool, but we couldn’t get very close to them. The penguins are another story. At Estancia San Lorenzo, for a nominal fee we were given a private guided walk right through a colony of nearly 350,000 magellanic penguins.
The penguins live further inland than I expected, we even saw a few on the side of the road as we drove down to the coast.
At the colony we followed our guide along a path dotted with little burrows, from which the penguins would peer up at us, cocking their heads in bemusement.
Other penguins were simply wandering around, paying us almost no attention as we walked right by.
Our visit happened to coincide with molting season, when all the new penguins who were born the previous November were shedding their fuzzy down to reveal their swimming feathers.
Of course, not al the penguins make it to this stage – we saw the remains of many birds who fell victim to predators like foxes and sea gulls.
Walking among the nests, it was hard to really tell how many penguins inhabit the colony. But once we reached the shore, there were thousands of penguins standing shoulder to shoulder – very impressive.
In another month all the penguins would be gone, leaving in unison to spend 6 months in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, not setting foot on land again until September.
The smell of the colony was awful, but it was pretty cool to get so close to these adorable creatures. Definitely a highlight of our trip!
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Cute little boogers! How do they smell? Hahaha
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