The reason I stop at Trelew on the way to Ushuaia is Penguins. When I first heard about the sentence - a colony of penguins, I didn't quite get the meaning of "a colony". But I guess for all of us who had watched the movie "Happy Feet", the anticipation is nevertheless high.
A very windy but sunny morning, I woke up very early as the trip to Punta Tombo takes hours. Punta Tombo is also a peninsula where the whole peninsula is a reserve. There is no human habitat allowed here except the conservation and research personnels.
Our guide briefed us on the rules of visiting - no touching, no physical contact, a minimum distance of 3 feet, don't go off the trail, no camera flashing (it scares the penguin) and I love this cutest last rule - if a penguin is curious of you or your camera, and walk toward you, you need to backing off. Keep your distance! :-)
When we reach the park, I suddenly realized what is the meaning of "colony". It is a colony!
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| Penguin Reserve in Punta Tombo, Apr 2010. |
When the scene of penguins full on the hill comes into view, it gives one those moments we open our mouth but has no word. Punta Tombo is the largest reseve for the Magellanic Penguins to mate and migrate, closed to 500,000 penguins come here every year. This is not the mating season, so no incubating of eggs or preparing offsprings for migration. April is the molding season and there were many young penguins are in the cycle of shredding their feather.
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| Penguin in Punta Tombo, Apr 2010. |
This one little guy, he/she got curious of me and keep walking toward me, probably because of my camera. I have to keep backing off. I love the way they walk, a bit like bouncing.
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| Penguin in Punta Tombo, Apr 2010. |
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| Penguin in Punta Tombo, Apr 2010. |
While another little fellow, he/she shows off the penguin howl. Appearantly, it is the way they communicate.
I can't help but to notice that penguins are very lovey animals, they always come as a couple, walk side by side, back and front and turn their head left and right when they're boucing off. I kind of jealeous of them, as they seem to really understand the meaning of life and enjoying it!
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| Penguin in Punta Tombo, Apr 2010. |
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| Penguin in Punta Tombo, Apr 2010. |
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| Penguins in Punta Tombo, Apr 2010. |
My favourite is this lovely couple. They hide under a little walkway on our trail from the freezing Patagonia Wind, helping each on shredding their feather.
All these penguins do not seem to aware of the existing of human visitors, for the fact that this should be a no Man land. At here, they are the habitat and it is their land.
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