PatagoniaChic.com Leg 15528

The excursion Monte León 4x4: Wolves and Penguins offers a unique opportunity to explore from El Calafate this national park that combines the sea, the coast and the steppe with a landscape full of Patagonian fauna. You can walk among penguin nests by trekking to a viewpoint from where you can appreciate the cliffs of the first national park with marine coast, visit the famous Cabeza de León and walk along the beach with its natural caves formed by sea erosion.

The tour starts by picking you up from your hotel in El Calafate at 6:30 a.m. to go to the Monte León National Park. Crossing the Patagonian steppe from west to east will pass through the Provincial Route 9 of gravel that runs along the Santa Cruz River and where you can enjoy magnificent views of its valley while finding indigenous animals of Patagonia such as guanacos, foxes, choiques and even, In some cases, cougars. They will make stops at panoramic points and you can go up to the viewpoint that has our vehicle Overland 4x4 to contemplate the spectacular views offered by this valley.

Around 11:30 a.m. they will enter to Monte León heading towards the marine coast and where are the protagonists of the excursion: the magellanic penguins.

Very close to the coast they will make a trekking of 1,5 hours of low difficulty by the path of the penguin house in which they can walk among penguins and their nests and observe all the colony from its viewpoint. Monte León has one of the most important colonies of this species in Argentina.

The 4x4 tour continues to the Lobería and Cabeza de León trail where you can reach the edge of this imposing cliff that resembles a lion and gives name to the national park. Here you will be able to observe one-haired sea lions and, occasionally on the coast, cetaceans such as the right whale, the southern dolphin or the white whale.