Punta Tombo

Punta Tombo is a low, stony point of Patagonian coast that becomes, every spring, one of the largest continental colonies of Magellanic penguins in the world, with several hundred thousand birds arriving to breed. They dig burrows under the thorny scrub and among the stones, lay in October, and spend the summer raising chicks before leaving again in autumn for the sea off Brazil. A visitor centre and a system of boardwalks and marked paths run through the colony, and because the penguins have the right of way and cross wherever they like, they walk past visitors at arm's length. Guanacos, maras and armadillos live in the surrounding steppe, and the shore holds cormorants and gulls.

The landscape

• The nesting colony - hundreds of thousands of penguins in burrows across the point.
• The boardwalks - raised paths threading through the nesting ground.
• The chicks - grey downy young in the burrows through summer.
• The steppe wildlife - guanacos, maras and armadillos around the reserve.

When to go

September to March; birds arrive in September, chicks hatch from November, and the colony empties by late March or April. October to January is the fullest and liveliest. Outside the season there is nothing to see.

Practical notes

The access road is gravel and dusty, and the drive from Trelew takes around two hours each way. There is no shade and the wind blows hard. Touching or blocking penguins is prohibited, and they will bite if crowded. The colony has been declining in parts of the point over recent decades.

Nearby

Trelew and the Welsh valley lie north; Camarones and Cabo Dos Bahías are far south.

Key facts