Australian reader David Molloy sent a batch of photos from Chile, half of which I’ll put up today. His notes:
Fulfilled a lifetime ambition last month and traveled to the geomorphological wonderland that is Chile (a great recommendation for next WEIT trip AFTER Australia). The Andes, Patagonia and the Atacama lived up to every expectation and more.All the animals featured are quite common and you’d have to be pretty unlucky to not see any of them if you stayed for any length of time [JAC: more to come in the next installment]. The picture the vicuna was taken at an elevation of 4807 m according to my GPS (15771 ft). God knows what they eat up there. I could barely breathe after getting out of the car to take the pic. The next picture, of the Torres del Paine, has not been enhanced in any way in post-processing – the dawn light was that intense on the walls! The walk up to the Torres themselves is one of the great hikes of the world IMHO.
Southern crested caracara (Caracara plancus):
Culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus), a southern species of fox:
Donkeys (Equus africanus asinus), Cerro Negro Norte:
Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) on the altiplano:
Torres del Paine Mirador:
Fabulous pictures. That looks like a trip worth taking.
Did you happen to visit the ESO’s VLT site at Paranal?
No .. very unfortunately. Didn’t find out about it till I was Google satelliting to position some of my photos. It was not publicised in San Pedro or in any of my travel literature. Annoyed now!
Sounds like a good excuse for another vacation! I’m sure there is plenty left to do and see in such a wonderful area that you weren’t able to manage during this one trip.
Great photos! Lucky you to have good weather at Torres del Paine!
Wow! Thanks for sharing! Were those wild donkeys?
Have no idea about the donkeys, but I did see them in roughly the same place 2 days in a row (near the marked Licancabur roadside stop).
Great pix. Baby “anythings” are always cute and little Donkeys are no exception…
Would have to take oxygen for that trip. Hard to believe a road at that altitude. I think a pilot is required to have oxygen on board over 10 thousand feet.
wow!
I agree. I’m wow’ing over here too.
Love all of these. Chile is now solidly crept up to the top of places I’d like to visit in my lifetime.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it! One tip … when booking flights to Punta Arenas (main airport for Patagonia) from Santiago make sure you get a window seat on the port side of the plane so you can see some Andean volcanos (mostly Argentinian) and the Southern Patagonian Icefield. Likewise, when heading north to Calama, get your seats on the starboard side – the view of the Andes is magnificent.
Beautiful. But whatever are those vicuña eating?? Looks like a dirt plain to me.
These are splendid! Thanks, David.