Peninsula Valdez: “Paradise for Marine Animals. Incredible valdes peninsula in argentina

Valdes is a peninsula Atlantic coast, connected to Argentina by the isthmus of Carlos Ameghino. total area peninsulas - 3625 km². In 1999 Valdes listed world heritage UNESCO. The territory of the peninsula includes kilometers wild beaches, rocky shores, reefs and salt lakes. Nanda ostriches, guanaco llamas, Patagonian guinea pigs, guanacos, armadillos, and penguins live on the peninsula. Penguins live on the peninsula from September to March, during this period the penguins hatch their chicks. Various marine mammals live in the coastline of the peninsula and coastal waters: sea lions, eared seals, elephant seals, fur seals.

In Golfo Nuevo and Golfo San José you can see whales from May to December. Whales come here during the mating season, to breed and raise offspring. live here big variety seabirds, mainly gulls and cormorants, rhea and guanacos, number at least 180 bird species.

Nearest Big City in the vicinity - Puerto Madryn (Puerto Madryn). Located on the Valdes Peninsula a small village Puerto Piramides and several sheep farms. Also on the peninsula are parks and a reserve of the colony of Magellanic penguins in the place of Punta Tombo (Punta Tombo). Tourists come to the peninsula to watch whales, penguins and other animals.TogetherPunta Norte and Punta Delgada are visitors to the island watching birds and seals. From the village of Puerto Piramides departures sea ​​excursions for whale watching, best months for these excursions - from September to November.

How to get to the peninsula Valdes

To get to Valdes , you need to fly to the city of Puerto Madryn, which is located 70 km from the peninsula. The flight from Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn takes 1 hour and 50 minutes.

The only way to get around the island is by car or tour bus. Therefore, you need to buy an excursion in Puerto Madryn, or rent a car.

You can rent a car online at the company

Puerto Madryn Map

Introverts and those who want to be in silence among sea ​​waves You can always rent a house on the beach. But there is an unusual and romantic option: to shine from the lighthouse to passing ships in night mist. To live in such interesting place, you can consider several proposals located on different continents.

Of course, besides the lighthouses, there are other hotels that are not so extreme, but rather more comfortable and hospitable, for example, www.arthotel.ru is always glad to new guests. Excellent service and quality. Recommended.

Well, for active tourists we present the rating of hotels in lighthouses.
1. Lighthouse Korkyra, Croatia

You can relax in a two-story house with four rooms, so that in total can fit up to 8 guests. The rental includes many amenities such as internet access, swimming pool, TV, the ability to live with pets and children. The lighthouse is rented together with a land plot in the middle of the sea, you can get there by boat in 5 minutes from the town of Orebic. The rental price will be approximately 32,000 RUB per day.

The mini hotel has 5 rooms and a small restaurant with cozy atmosphere. It is best to book rooms in advance. The cost is from 75 EUR per day, there are single and double options. You can get to the hotel by car from Madrid, or, closer, from Portugal.

3. Faro Punta Delgado, Argentina

The Valdes Peninsula is located in the west of Argentina, the hotel is called Faro Punta Delgado. The distance from the capital by car or by sea is about 1000 km, but the secluded setting is worth it for amateurs to appreciate. Wild wilderness includes whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, Magellanic penguins, all among the rocks.

From entertainment, you can ride horses, walk along the coast and dine with local lamb dishes, tasting wine. Previously, there was also a casino in that area and now you can, if you wish, find a company for gambling in cards. The hotel's facilities include Wi-Fi, a telephone and a spacious bathroom. Renting a room will cost 92-180 USD.

4. Braddock Point, USA

It has undergone a good repair, and inside is sustained sea ​​style interior, a lot of souvenirs and things of sailors, such as compasses, anchors, and the rooms themselves look like cabins and please with a simple, slightly ascetic design.

All amenities are present, including a bathroom and a restaurant with home cooking. Even the lighthouse fire is still working, but it does not interfere with any of the tourists. To have fun, you can climb to the top, meet the caretaker and watch him work, and also go to Niagara Falls. Rooms costing from 180 to 300 USD are available for booking on the hotel website and the most convenient way to get there is by car from Canada, the distance is only 250 km.

5. Lighthouse, New Zealand

Just a 15-minute drive from the capital of the islands is the last hotel on this list, and proximity to the city will not let you get bored and feel lonely, but it won’t work out too much. Rooms, designed as cabins, occupy three floors, and at the top there is a platform with great view on the sea. The menu consists of seafood delicacies, but can be cooked separately for vegetarians.

There are plenty of options for recreation, visiting the beaches, renting boats for a walk, and of course traveling to Wellington for sightseeing. Reservations for rooms that cost from 170 to 230 NZD are made on the website.

Valdes is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of Argentina. The area of ​​the peninsula is 3625 square kilometers. Most of peninsulas - uninhabited territory. There are several salt lakes, the largest of which lies 40 meters below sea level.

This is the lowest point on land for South America.Main locality peninsula - the village of Puerto Piramides. The most colorful representatives of the fauna of the region live on the territory of the peninsula and in the waters surrounding it. Here you can see elephant seals, killer whales, whales, guanacos, sea lions, armadillos, as well as unique Comerson dolphins that live exclusively in these places. The peninsula is separated from the mainland by two bays . On one of them, from the mainland, is the first reserve of the province of Chubut, called Punta Loma. It is home to the only permanent colony of sea lions on the continent. On the Valdes Peninsula, you can also catch the period when penguins arrive here. A huge number of Magellanic penguins come here to breed chicks and prepare for their migration. provincial reserve.

Peninsula Valdes

The Valdes Peninsula is the largest on the entire Atlantic coast and is home to a variety of flora and fauna. In 1999, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The territory of the peninsula is uninhabited and includes kilometers of wild beaches, rocky coasts and reefs. There are also several salt lakes.

The territory of the peninsula is abundantly populated by representatives marine mammals such as elephant seals, seals, whales, killer whales and penguins.

The land part is home to ostriches, Patagonian guinea pigs, flocks of flamingos, sea gulls and cormorants.

The Argentine Peninsula of Valdes is famous outside as a paradise for many marine animals of the southern hemisphere of the planet. According to oceanologists, Valdes - amazing place where whales, sea lions and elephants, killer whales and dolphins come to breed. Penguins find shelter here, and pink flamingo. This natural wonder can rightfully be called an open-air zoo.

Geographic reference

settled down paradise nature in the far southern latitudes Atlantic Ocean in what is now Argentina. It refers to geographical region Patagonia. South and northern part The Valdes peninsulas are washed by the waters of two warm bays - Golfo Nuevo and San Jose.

The province of Chubut, to which the territory of the amazing object belongs, is located in the heart of the Patagonia region. Therefore, small country town Puerto Madryn is the closest settlement to the lands where the Valdes Peninsula is located, and the site itself is mostly deserted.

The only tourist core is the village of Puerto Piramides - the center of sheep breeding and at the same time the tour desk of the territory of more than 3 thousand square kilometers. Located between 42 and 47 parallel south latitude, the Valdez peninsula resembles a flat bean seed in its outline, but by all geographical indicators it is a wild and very harsh land.

Climatic features

Comparing the upland part of the Patagonian pampas and the coastal one, we can draw only one conclusion: the climate in Valdez is non-trivial, that is, complex and peculiar. Its formation is greatly influenced by air masses from the Atlantic. Sharp fluctuations in temperature day and night once again emphasize the specificity of the climate. Strong cooling brings the south wind Pamperos, he also manages precipitation or its absence. Warm summer on the Valdes Peninsula comes in sunny December, and real winter comes in June. Do not be surprised, because this is the southern hemisphere, where the opposite is true.

Interesting facts

400 km of the coast hosts about 2 million sea birds. But bird colonies coexist perfectly with marine mammals.

The main property of the object - Natural resources allowing you to do fishing, diving and windsurfing, but tourists prefer watching the sea giants. Tourists look forward to the appearance of amazing creatures, and hearing marriage songs and seeing games with their own eyes cannot replace any other experience.

The coastal area of ​​Valdes is no less picturesque and diverse in comparison with the fauna of the peninsula. Huge cliffs separate the coastline, forming beaches for small marine life- seals, elephants, lions. The favorable conditions of the peninsula make it possible to replenish the ranks of these mammals and restore their numbers, which is why in 1999 Valdes became an object of ecological significance in the World Heritage List.

(Spanish Península Valdes) - a peninsula on the Atlantic coast with an area of ​​​​about 3.7 thousand km²; connects with mainland isthmus Carlos Ameghino(Spanish: Istmo Carlos Ameghino). From the north, its coast is washed by bay of san jose(Spanish San Jose Bay), from the south - Golfo Nuevo (Spanish Golfo Nuevo). The territory of the peninsula is part of the Argentine province (Spanish Provincia de Chubut), which, in turn, is located in the center of the region (Spanish Patagonia). Most of the peninsula is uninhabited territory. 400 km coastline very picturesque, it includes a series of bays and lagoons, bizarre cliffs, sandy and rocky beaches, huge fantastic rocks. And the coastal waters are rich in magnificent coral reefs.

The nearest major city from the peninsula is (Spanish: Puerto Madryn).

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Climate

The climate on the peninsula is transitional between the temperate climate of the central part of the country (with an abundance of rainfall in the hot months) and the cold climate with winter rains typical of Patagonia. Summers in Valdes are short and hot, while winters are long and mild.

open air zoo

Many call the Valdez Peninsula a wonder of nature, because this place is home to an incredible variety of marine life. The peninsula became famous as a place of concentration of a unique and diverse marine fauna, for which in 1999 this amazing corner of nature was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This island, connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land, attracts crowds of tourists every year to watch huge whales, funny penguins and other animals.

The coast of the peninsula has essential for the conservation of rare species of marine animals. Numerous colonies of marine mammals live here, such as southern elephant seals (lat. Mirounga leonina), eared seals (lat. Otariidae), killer whales (lat. Orcinus orca), sea lions (lat. Otariinae), fur seals (lat. Callorhinus ursinus ).

In the warm and calm waters of the Gulf of Golfo Nuevo, which separates the peninsula from the mainland Patagonia, there are rare southern whales (lat. Eubalaena australis), and other species of whales swim from May to December to spend the mating season and breed.

Nandu ostriches (lat. Rheidae), guanaco llamas (lat. Lama guanicoe), armadillos (lat. Cingulata) and maras (lat. Dolichotinae), also known as Patagonian hares or Patagonian pigs, are found on land. From September to March, penguins (lat. Spheniscidae) live on Valdes - during this period, these amazing flightless seabirds breed chicks. The species diversity of seabirds living here is especially huge (at least 180 species), mainly gulls, cormorants and pink flamingos.

On Valdez there is a small village of Puerto Piramides(Spanish: Puerto Piramides) With a population of about 250 inhabitants, the village is visited annually by more than 8 thousand tourists: boat trips for whale watching (from September to November) and sea wolves (from December to March) depart from here.

Place Punta Tombo(Spanish Punta Tombo), located on the Atlantic coast, is a narrow rocky strip of land, which was chosen by the Magellanic penguins (lat. Spheniscus magellanicus). About 2 million of these seabirds constantly come here. They live here in the warm season, from September to April: they mate, lay and incubate eggs. In 1979, Punta Tombo received the status of a provincial reserve.

The paradise Gulf of Golfo Nuevo attracts even such very rare animals as Commerson's dolphins or Motley dolphins (lat. Cephalorhynchus commersonii), which are famous for their unusual coloring - the body is snow-white, and the head, tail and fins are black.

In places Punta Norte(Spanish Punta Norte) and Punta Delgada(Spanish: Punta Delgada) visitors watch colonies of birds and some marine animals.

Along the entire coast Caleta Valdes(Spanish Caleta Valdes) - a narrow cape separating the open sea from the lagoon - you can see elephant seals, whose weight sometimes reaches 3 tons.

How to get there

To get to the peninsula, you need to fly from Puerto Madryn, which is located 70 km from Valdes.

It is possible to move around the territory of the peninsula only by car or in a sightseeing bus. Therefore, in Puerto Madryn you need to buy a tour or rent a car.

Curious facts