The Monte Leon 4x4: Sea Lions and Penguins excursion offers a unique opportunity to explore Monte Leon National Park from El Calafate. It combines the sea, the coast, and the steppe with a landscape teeming with Patagonian wildlife. This tour includes trekking among penguins to a viewpoint overlooking the cliffs, a visit to the famous Lion's Head and a trek along the beach with its natural caves formed by sea erosion.
The tour begins with a 6:30 a.m. pick-up by Overland 4x4 from your hotel in El Calafate to head to Monte Leon National Park. Crossing the Patagonian steppe from west to east, you will travel along Provincial Route Nº9, a gravel road along the Santa Cruz River. From the viewpoint of our Overland 4x4 vehicle, you will enjoy magnificent views of the river valley. During the tour, you will see native Patagonian animals such as guanacos, foxes, rheas, and even, occasionally, pumas.
Around 11:30 a.m., you will arrive at Monte Leon National Park. Near the coast, you will take a 1.5-hour easy hike along the penguin colony trail, where you will walk among penguins and their nests and observe the entire colony from the view point. Monte Leon National Park has the largest penguin colony in Argentina.
After boarding the Overland 4X4 again, the excursion continues to the Lobería and Cabeza de León Trail, where you can reach the edge of this imposing cliff that resembles a recumbent lion and gives its name to Monte Leon National Park. Here you can observe flocks of fur-bearing sea lions and, occasionally, cetaceans such as French whales, southern dolphins or white-winged dolphins.
The next stop of the tour will be at the Monte Leon Island Lookout, from where you can observe enormous colonies of cormorants and other species of seabirds characteristic of this environment.
Then, you will return to El Calafate, arriving at approximately 9:30 p.m. after having visited the wonderful Monte Leon National Park, the only one overlooking the ocean, coast, and Patagonian steppe and where you can observe birds and animals that are difficult to see elsewhere.
Important: In the event that heavy rain is forecast for the area, the tour must be cancelled due to the terrain's passability. The excursion operates with a minimum of 4 passengers.
Español
English
Português
Available
Not available
