We passed by the Train at the End of the World, which is within the Park, but didn't ride or even visit the station. It is a very short route and seemed more of a novelty than a meaningful addition to a visit.
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| Our first National Park of the year! |
Tierra del Fuego National Park (Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego) was established in 1960 and expanded in 1966 and is the southernmost National Park in Argentina.
Known for its dramatic scenery, it features 240 square miles of waterfalls, forests, mountains, glaciers, lakes and bays.
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| Pretty landscape on a pretty day |
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| Looking across the lake; Photo: Scott Stevens |
It stretches 37 miles north from the Beagle Channel along the Chilean border and is only 6.8 miles from Ushuaia. It includes parts of Fagnano and Roca Lakes and represents two ecoregions: the Altos Andes and the Patagonian Forest.
The landscape is the result of glacial erosion, which has created bays and beaches against a backdrop of jagged mountains and valleys.
The Beagle Channel is named after the British ship HMS Beagle, which sailed with the naturalist Charles Darwin aboard in 1833-34. Running between the islands of the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, the channel is 150 miles long and varies from three to eight miles wide.
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| The Beagle Channel as we were flying in |
While we traveled it twice on the cruise, I deeply regret not booking a local tour on the channel on our second morning in Ushuaia.
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| There were certainly lots of opportunities; Photo: Scott Stevens |
I didn't realize that that would be our only chance to see Magellanic Penguins up close. I did see some from the ship, but they were too far for decent photos.
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| Magellanic Penguins |
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| Tatochila Theodice Butterfly |
The Park is home to 20 species of terrestrial mammals, including the Guanaco, Andean Fox, South Andean Deer, Southern River Otter, North American Beaver, European Rabbit and Muskrat. The last three were introduced by European and North American settlers and rapidly proliferated, causing significant damage to the environment.
South American Sea Lions live along the coast.
The only animal we saw was a Sea Lion that had somehow found his way into a small lagoon and seemed to be having difficulty getting out.
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| He appeared to be injured; I doubt he lasted much longer unless he was rescued |
The Park has 90 species of birds, of which we saw a few. Before we even passed over the boundary to the Park we stopped to photograph a couple of Chimango Caracaras, which are quite plentiful in the area.
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| A Chimango Caracara posing for us |
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| The ones we saw seemed to have little fear of humans |
Even though this wasn't a birding trip, I spent more time here photographing a variety of birds than anywhere else on the journey.
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| Austral Thrush |
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Black-chinned Siskin
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Flightless Steamer-Ducks
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Kelp Gulls
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Neotropic Cormorant
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Northern Giant-Petrel
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Patagonian Sierra Finch (a gorgeous bird)
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Rufous-collared Sparrow (I saw these all over the Andes in Ecuador last year)
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Southern Crested Caracara (same as Northern Crested Caracaras in the U.S.)
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Thorn-tailed Rayaditos, tricky little critters that proved very difficult to photograph
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A Tufted Tit-Tyrant that made a brief appearance and disappeared
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Yellow-billed Teal
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One of my favorite birds was the very cooperative Fire-eyed Diucon. This little gray bird appeared somewhat nondescript from a distance.
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| But, up close: those eyes!! Gorgeous! |
In the Park's major lake, Lago Roca, we had two treats: a female Great Grebe with three chicks that spent a lot of time riding on her back.
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| They were far away, but still fun to watch |
Great Grebes are interesting because they build waterproof floating nests right on the water's surface.
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| Floating nest |
We also saw a beautiful Black-necked Swan on the lake.
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| These Swans live throughout the bottom half of South America |
Our guide (whose name I lost) said it was somewhat rare to see them there. Lovely!
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| Enhancing an already beautiful landscape |
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| Well, we saw Kelp Geese on the sign |
We did not see any Kelp Geese, which are the symbol of the Park. They inhabit the shoreline, seldom venturing far from the water. I saw some Geese when on the ship on the Beagle Channel that may have been Kelp Geese, but I am not sure.
They could have also been Upland Geese, which we saw in Tierra del Fuego. In fact, we had multiple encounters, including a pair with a gaggle of goslings.
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| There were probably a dozen |
Papa was guarding his brood from across the parking lot (they stand higher up to distract predators for the more vulnerable babies) ...
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| King of the (tiny) hill |
Mama was close, but wandered away when she determined we were not a threat.
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| Watchful Mama |
We saw several more later ...
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| ... including a fly-over |
It wasn't a birding tour, so I felt that I did fairly well.
Our final stop at the Park was BahÃa Ensenada Zaratiegui on the Beagle Channel, where the southernmost Post Office in the World is located. The Post Office sits precariously above the water on stilts that extend out into the channel.
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| The southernmost Post Office (maybe); Photos: Scott Stevens |
It was set up on the initiative of the current Post Office employee, Carlos de Lorenzo, in 1997 and was originally located further out into the channel on the Isla Redonda (Round Island), where it served as a stop off point for sailors and adventurers to send communications to loved ones (and probably employers) back home.
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| Round Island |
Carlos moved the Post Office to the Park side to make it more accessible. But, to avoid interference from the Park, he built it on the shore and over the water, where the Park has no jurisdiction. Then, he named himself Ambassador to Argentina.
While not super dramatic, the Park was lovely with blue lakes and bays against jagged mountains in the distance. The subantarctic forest vegetation is dominated by lenga beech, small bushes and grasses.
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| There are also extensive peat bogs in the Park, as well |
And, the weather, which looked threatening at first, turned out to be gorgeous.
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| A lovely day; Bottom photos: Scott Stevens |
Our guide was knowledgeable and pleasant and we had a lovely time seeing the sights of the Park. The drivable portion is quite small, so we were able to get a pretty good overview. The tour was billed as about five hours, but we were actually gone for more than six.
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| A good start |
Ushuaia was fun, but that's not why we flew all the way across the world. That comes soon (after some basic information).
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