Chile 2023: Puma, Mountains and much more….

[jeffb]

Beautiful pictures, Tony. Fabulous to have such success on your first morning. And thanks for the focal length info - very helpful as I plan equipment for my trip later this year.

[janzin]

Wow, fantastic start. Beautiful cat, beautiful photos.

 

It doesn't look like the walking is too difficult.

 

What camera gear were you carrying?

Edited January 2 by janzin

[Galana]

A great morning. Some of those poses are remarkable.

[jeremie]

6 hours ago, janzin said:

Wow, fantastic start. Beautiful cat, beautiful photos.

 

It doesn't look like the walking is too difficult.

 

What camera gear were you carrying?

 

HI Janet. The walk in the estancia is very easy as you quite drive off road almost everywhere. No worries

Pumas don't attack people in South America, but keeping all these good rules help to prevent any incident. I was once luck enough to be less than 10 meters away from a puma (indeed, I would say 5-6 meters) during half an hour. I did not come to him, but he went down to us.

[Atravelynn]

What intimate puma shots!

 

[Kitsafari]

What an awesome first day and first sighting! Was the puma nervous about your closeness? it doesn't seem so from your photos - it looks quite chilled and relaxed instead. They must be used to human interaction, I wonder? 

 

Torres is high on my target and puma tracking is right there at the top. when we get to South America one day....

[Atdahl]

Wow, awesome photos!  What a first morning!  I bet there is more good stuff to come. 

[michael-ibk]

Fabulous sighting - and photos!

[Zim Girl]

What a great early sighting - fantastic pictures of the Puma.

[Towlersonsafari]

loving your report @TonyQ-informative and interesting- and echoing others- what a splendid Puma sighting!

[Ginny]

@TonyQWhat incredible photos, and such a lovely, intimate experience. Do you think she had ever been around people before?

Thank you for this great report.

 

 

[TonyQ]

@jeffbthank you - I am glad you find the lens information useful - I will put a few more in later

@janzinthank you. I carried a Canon R7 with the 100-400ii, and a monopod sometimes. I had a spare body in the car but didn't carry it around with me. In terms of the difficulty of walking, it is hard to say as different people have different perceptions of difficulty and different abilities. We are both in our late 60s, no mobility problems, reasonably active but not particularly fit. We managed it! You need to be able to walk on rough ground with no paths or tracks, and some of it is steep uphill (we were a bit slow uphill) or downhill.  (Some of the land is too steep for 4X4, and once you are following on foot you carry on).Susanne watched us and said she could see that we knew how to walk on such landscapes. You will need good boots.  We joined another man on a later day as we walked up quite a steep hill - he was heavily built and carried a very heavy camera. He struggled, but made it.

 

@Galana@Atravelynn@Atdahl@Towlersonsafari@Zim Girl@michael-ibkThank you

@Kitsafari@Ginny The Pumas that we watched and tracked are not nervous of people. They have learned that on the Estancia, people do not harm them. Many of the Pumas will have been born on the Estancia and will have seen people since they were little cubs. Also the Tracker makes sure that visitors behave and follow the rules, so we thought the Puma were very relaxed. The only real threat to them here is a male Puma (we didn't see one, but having watched Dynasties, the males are much bigger and more powerfully built)

[TonyQ]

Guanaco

In the Torres del Paine area, the main prey of the Puma are Guanaco (Lama guanicoe)

It is thought to be the wild ancestor of the llama (Lama glama). The adults stand about 110 cm (43 inches) at the shoulder and weigh about 90 kg with some weighing up to 120Kg. They are big animals!

Distant view of herd of Guanaco - mainly females

A clear lookout - keep a watch for Puma

 

Very agile for a big animal

Near the road on the way back to the hotel

 

 

[TonyQ]

All of our Puma tracking took place on Estancia Laguna Amarga which borders the National Park. In the past, it was a sheep estancia, and Puma were seen as dangerous predators of livestock. The owners of the Estancia decided to work with the Puma. They removed most of the sheep and left the land for Guanaco. They put in a few tracks that were accessible to 4X4 vehicles and trained Puma Trackers. These were people who knew the land well and understood the behaviour of Puma. They realised that they could make money by allowing a small number of visitors in to see Puma.

 

The Estancia covers about 7000 hectares. I have no idea how big a hectare is so I did some comparing. Olare Motorogi Conservancy in Kenya is about 13000 hectares. So the Estancia is about half of that - a sizable piece of land. The big advantage of visiting here is that you can drive anywhere (where possible) and walk anywhere (where safe). In the National Park you have to stay on roads or designated walking tracks (or so I believe).

 

We were there in Springtime, and one of the advantages is that there are lots of flowers about

 

 

After seeing the Puma go to sleep, we walked down towards a lake, and "the beach". Sometimes Puma are seen here, but not today.

But still a beautiful area

More stromatolites

And we also had a goodd view of a Horned Owl

 

 

[janzin]

Thanks Tony that's great info on the walking, and the camera. It looks like a 100-400 would serve quite well, and that's a light lens.  Although I see the R7 is a crop-factor camera. Hmm.  Just thinking ahead

[TonyQ]

At some time we stopped to eat our packed breakfast, but I am not sure where or when - but there were beautiful views wherever we stopped

 

The advantage of staying at the Hotel Torres del Paine is that it is close enough to go back to in the middle of the day. Puma tend to be active early in the morning and in the late afternoon/earl evening. We thought we wouldnt manage being out from 4.30 until late at night so a meal and a rest suited us well. (It is possible to stay out all day if you want). Despite what I said earlier about the hotel, they managed lunch very well. Food was very good, as was the service. We also managed a 1 hour sleep and a shower!

 

We then felt we had wnough energy to go again!

[TonyQ]

Our car - very comfortable

We were pleased to see a Lesser Rhea out and about

 

 

And also a view of a Cinereous harrier in loveley light

And the remains of a Guanaco

 

[TonyQ]

Our Tracker, Marcial was excellent – Susanne always asks to work with him when she takes guests there. A number of documentaries about Puma have been filmed on the Estancia, and Marcial has worked on 3 of them – “Animals up close” (Disney), “Seven Worlds one Planet” (BBC) and “Dynasties” (Series 2 Episode 1 BBC). We have only seen one since we returned (Dynasties) and it was excellent. (We didn’t watch before we went as we didn’t want to build up unrealistic expectation.

 

The Puma do not see people as a threat in this area and it is possible to walk very close to them. The trackers know the individual Puma – some are more nervous than others for example so they would stay further away. Marcial suggested we return to the site of the kill from the morning as he had seen the Puma there.

 

(349mm, minimal crop for composition)

 

 

Showing very big claws

 

 

[TonyQ]

So our first day was not going too badly

We were thrilled to be able to get so close to this beautiful Puma, and she seemed very relaxed.

And the late sunshine even broke through

 

 

 

(The portraits are cropped!)

It was great to get such good sightings on the first day, as it relieved any "back of the mind" pressure - would we see them? It was already much better than we expected so anything else would be a bonus.

So a quick packed evening meal and then back to the hotel for an early night, and an early start!

 

 

[TonyQ]

@janzin - the Canon R7 is a crop sensor, so using a full frame, 500 or so would be useful. However, I would recommend a Zoom because you don't know how close you will be.

Some of the photos tomorrow will be more distant, but there are also some other close ones

[Atravelynn]

So close!

[PeterHG]

Incredible Puma sightings and photos! 

[TonyQ]

@Atravelynnwe were amazed how close we could get, and on foot!

@PeterHGthank you

Next morning, after a 5.15 pick up, we return to the Estancia. Susanne hears from Marcial that a Puma is about, walking along a ridge by the road. We walk up to the ridge and head along. We catch a glimpse of the Puma as it goes past a machine that is used to repair the road

 

Cropped to remove the vehicle! Low light still so ISO 5000

 

It then heads into the vegetation on the far side. It is 06.10.

This Puma is much redder in colour than the one we saw yesterday.

 

Marcial says the vegetation is too thick to be able to track the Puma, so we leave it.

 

Still a nice start to the day to wake us up!

 

[TonyQ]

We head off to a different area where Marcial has seen Puma

After some walking we see this handsome Puma.

 

Much more grey in colour than the one early this morning (I know that colour in photos is not reliable, but it did look much greyer – and Susanne agreed. They do vary in colour)

A nap?

Looking a bit more alert – but it stayed where it was

[TonyQ]

We went to some ground that was a bit higher, and looked down onto a herd of Guanaco

Most look relaxed. But one or two are always checking around.

 

 

Puma hunt mainly by stealth – they need to sneak up on their prey. They are then very quick over a short distance.

 

Marcial thought it was possible the Guanaco would walk towards the Puma.

One walked out ahead of the herd and looked particularly exposed, but eventually it returned to the herd. Safe for now.