Puma Tour of Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park
A trip committed to watch Puma (Mountain Lion or Cougar) in the remote and stunning Patagonian wilderness of Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park and the adjacent Ranch Estancia Laguna Amarga.
Far South Expeditions as an entirely local Chile-based tour operator has been conducting puma trips here for more than 16 years; join our expert local naturalist guides and puma trackers, in the best place in the world for watching this magnificent and inspiring predator of the Andes.
Frequently praised by visitors as one of the most beautiful and majestic wild places in the planet, declared as the World’s 8th natural wonder, Torres del Paine National Park is a remote refuge of life where wildlife is normally quite tame and it’s not rare to see relaxed and inquisitive guanacos, foxes and other animals at close quarters; seeing the lone hunter that dwells in the vast and barren hills, the mighty Puma, is something else. Patagonian pumas, especially around Torres del Paine, are the largest race of the species in the Americas. With an uncommon higher density rate, this national Park and surroundings have become the most sought-after places to watch and photograph wild pumas on Earth. This is mainly due to the stable growing of Guanaco populations in the Patagonian steppes, and the protection that Puma has been granted in the past years. puma tracking tours
Trip Highlights
• A trip conceived to maximize the chances of seeing puma (mountain lion) in the wild.
• Puma tracking activities carried out from dawn to dusk.
• This trip will be led by an experienced naturalist guide plus a puma tracker.
• In-depth wildlife and natural history exploration of Torres del Paine National Park, UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve
• An interesting array of mammals and birds restricted to the Southern Andes and Patagonia.
This expedition has been geared to seek out and contemplate this big and elegant cat in one the wildest places throughout its entire range in the Continent. We have pioneered Puma tours here in Patagonia, and have always worked by our strict environmental ethos and in permanent contact with the National Park authorities, as the wildlife is our first and foremost concern. According with the new regulations about Puma watching and photo safaris within the National Park, we search only from the roads and allowed trails within the boundaries of the park. On the other hand, at the ranch “Estancia Amarga”, we are one of the few selected operators to work inside the property and search for puma along the grounds of this magnificent private area, adjacent to the park and now, entirely committed to Puma conservation.
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. The 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 the big sky is a magnificent wildlife spectacle. In the company of our guide and puma tracker, we will follow puma at a prudent distance with the help of binoculars and spotting scopes.
If we have time, 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.
Join us on this quest, to discover the wildlife of Torres del Paine and one of its most secretive and yet most awe-inspiring inhabitants.
Alternative Tour Name: Pumas of Torres del Paine
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