Punta Tombo Penguin Reserve - Full day tour

We leave the City of Puerto Madryn heading south taking National Route No. 3 (almost 190 km of asphalt) towards the Punta Tombo Nature Reserve, the most important penguin colony in the American continent. The penguins arrive annually at this place to nest, mate, have their young and mutate and then start the return trip to the northeast of South America and cyclically return the following year. Punta Tombo is a rocky strip 3.5 km long by 600 m wide that extends into the sea. It has beaches that have a gentle decline that the penguins take advantage of to rebuild and create their nests.

Upon arrival we will pay the entrance fee to the reserve and enter the interpretation center where we will be able to observe all the fauna of the place and learn what is necessary to enter the reserve and understand the actions of the penguins. At the exit of the interpretation center a minibus will take us to the beginning of the trails where our walk of approximately 1.5 to 2 km will begin. Walking along the perfectly marked paths, we can surprise ourselves observing the feverish activity that dominates the colony. Depending on the season, you can see some penguins digging their caves, fighting for territory, moving in search of their nests, mating or feeding their chicks. At the same time, the continuous noise of braying - the vocalization of adult penguins that they use to ward off strangers and attract a mate - dominates the atmosphere. The penguins coexist with other seabirds that have chosen this site to nest, such as the gray or southern cook gulls, the skuas or robbers, two species of cormorants -the royal and the black-necked or rock-, the steamer duck, Antarctic pigeons, and various species of terns and giant petrels. Given the extension of the area we can also get to observe guanacos, piches, maras, rheas, foxes, guinea pigs and martinetas.

At the end of the tour we can have lunch at the reserve cafeteria and then we return to the city making a stop at the City of Gaiman, a town located on the banks of the Chubut River. It is an old Welsh colony framed in a particular landscape of wooded plots, wild fences and cliffs tattooed by erosion. It was the first municipality of Chubut and curiously, the origin of its name is not Welsh but Tehuelche and means: "Sharpening Stone" or "Stone Point". To learn about the Welsh culture and the history of this small town, we walk through its streets, the former railway station and it contains relics of colonization, we visit the first Gaiman house built in 1874, the tunnel through which the old railway passed and the old chapels -true spiritual support of those settlers-. As an optional activity, we can enjoy a delicious "Welsh tea", prepared according to ancient customs, which give it a unique flavor and perfume, tasting all kinds of homemade regional cakes, breads and sweets. Then we return to the city of Puerto Madryn .

We will make a stop in Trelew, where those who wish can enter the Egidio Feruglio Museum, the Paleontological Museum, which has large and important pieces of dinosaurs found near our city. At the end of the tour we return to Madryn.