2014/01 Chile trip - Fauna Trail |
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Wednesday January 29th
We had heavy rain all night but to our relief it ended at seven and the sun came out in time for our last day of hiking. The mountains were still enveloped in cloud. Pablo was leading again, with Claudio along as biologist. Other hikers were Lynn from Sydney and Dean and Michelle from Seattle. Dean had Parkinsons and had difficulty talking and moving about but he managed the hike surprisingly well.
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Fauna Trail |
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Our first stop was at Laguna los Cisnes for a distant view of the black-necked swans as well as more flamingoes and assorted ducks, 
widgeons I believe. Then we left the bus behind near Lago Sarmiento for a hike along the Fauna Trail, well named as it turned out. The sky was clearing nicely. Our first piece of fauna was dead, a chulengo (baby guanaco), a very recent puma kill, now just a pile of bloody bones.
We hiked steadily upwards to a prominent rock, our destination for lunch. In the first picture it’s shown against the granite backdrop of the Cuernos. In the second, Claudio was explaining that the rock’s overhang was used as a shelter by Patagonia’s
aborigines. The walls have a few petroglyphs, including this handprint and what may be pictures of animals.
The shelter has a magnificent view of the Paine Massif, which was gradually emerging for us as the clouds cleared.
Once down from the rock we were amongst herds of hundreds of guanaco, mainly females and young (chulengos), with a dozen condors circling above, and the occasional rhea bounding past. With the backdrop of spectacular mountains and the abundant wildlife, the place felt like Jurassic Park. This was what we had come to Chile to see.
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Fauna Trail (5.21) |
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The condors were riding the thermals around the towers, but were also zooming over our heads, checking us out. I 
never saw any of them flap; those fingers on the end of the wings do all the magic.
Other birds included this rhea, rushing across the landscape; something had spooked it, causing it to run between us.
The curved bill belongs to a pretty black-faced ibis, quite common in Patagonia.
This black-winged ground dove might be common too but they’re very hard to see even when you know there’s one there!
In the midst of so many guanacos, there were plenty of characters to entertain us. There were the pretty, young chulengos.
And the couch potatoes that lie down and munch on the couch itself.
Some rush around on the perimeter of the herd, while others just hang out and look cool.
By now we had traveled far enough around the massif for a good view of the Torres and of the Paine River valley.
We had a tricky descent to the Laguna Amargo ranger station by the Paine River bridge. Dean did very well; it was difficult for the rest o
f us too. Back at the domes, we had enough time to walk the nature trail around the Ecocamp. Pablo was proud of the trail that he and the other guides had built, but we found it more difficult than anything we’d walked so far! We enjoyed it but some of the creek crossings were risky for old bones – we saw plenty of flowers and birds to compensate.
That evening at dinner we had new companions from California and New York, but they were just beginning and we were leaving, and having to pack for the next morning.