6 day Patagonian Quest

Torres del Paine

We at Neblina Forest LLC are  wildlife fanatics, but we are well concious that perhaps big majority of  travelers are not as focused on wildlife as we are. Regardless of your degree of enthusiasm for wildlife, however, both nature  lovers and more “ general  interest “ travelers; all find the dramatic mountain scenery of the Paine Massif to be captivating and dazzeling.

Therefore, even our Puma Extreme itineraries feature a number of outings that allow for landscape photography of the Torres del Paine National Park from the classic locations from the south (Lago Pehoé) and from the east (Laguna Amarga and Laguna Azul). We believe that most well-balanced wildlife trips to the Paine area should include several opportunities to take superb landscape shots, especially in the first hour of the day for shots from the east, and at different times of day for shots from the south. Bottom line this dramatic and at the same time fatastic place will give us life experience.!

On the Search for Pumas.

The Puma (or Mountain Lion or Cougar) is distributed in nine million square kilometers of terrain of all kinds from Punta Arenas, Chile, north continuously to the southern border of Alaska, the greatest latitudinal range of any terrestrial mammal on Earth.

We work with local pumas trackers , who are experts and know the area very well, as we use tos say; We are not god , just gudies,  but certainly during our days looking for these creature we can guarantee our chances are 90 % to witness at least one encounter with Pumas !!

There are several hotels of different levels within operational distance of Pumaland, and Neblina Forest Works with all of them , all of them have private facilites and cozy accommodations and very good gastronomy .

For each day of our trip, we have organized a busy schedule of daily search outings for pumas in the area. We will inspect the guanaco-rich puma hunting grounds located to the east, and beyond the Park limits in the same direction, into the private ranch “Laguna Amarga” where Pumas occupy the same habitat as in the Park. The area comprised by the northern coast of Sarmiento Lake, Laguna Amarga and Laguna Azul is well known for holding one of the largest concentrations of pumas in the wild.

Our puma trackers patrol puma corridors by car and on foot, and using this information we plan our 2-3 km (3-4-hour) hikes along authorized trails both inside the Park and the Laguna Amarga Ranch. These are moderate walks, so a minimum fitness to be able to keep up with the group is advised. Topography is usually not too demanding but there might be differences in altitude of around 50-250m sometimes, although we walk at a slow and gentle pace.

To see a female puma and its large-sized cubs against this magnificent mountain backdrop and big sky is a magnificent wildlife spectacles. In company of our guide and puma tracker we will follow puma at a prudent distance with the help of binoculars and spotting scopes.

We will also take the opportunity to look for other mammal species including the ubiquitous guanaco, the local Andean Deer or Huemul, Patagonian Hog-nosed Skunk and the two canid species present in the park, Chilla and Culpeo foxes.