Rose Mills, a club member and past Committee member, enthralled us with her talk on a visit to Chile in September 2024. I am sure I am not the only one who felt like jumping on a plane there as soon as possible, despite it being a 30-hour trip (although apparently shorter but pricier routes are now available!)
September is a good time to go as it’s early in the season (less busy) and less windy than usual although it is colder as well. Rose chose the destination because she loved trekking in Nepal and was looking for a similar experience; she definitely was not disappointed by the landscape and above all the kind, friendly and humble people. It was not strictly a birding trip, but the country has many endemics and a great variety of species.
Chile facts:
- Look at a map and see how much further south it is than South Africa and therefore how different the terrain
- It is seismically volatile, there are 2000+ volcanoes and it’s vulnerable to tsunamis
- Its long and narrow shape means that it has six different biomes
- Patagonia is a region shared between Chile and Argentina. The name is thought to mean Big Foot because the Spanish saw big footprints made by the boots the people wore.
Rose visited Chiloe Island (Island of Gulls) and South Torres, where a highlight was puma tracking as well as a trek to the ‘ Torres del Paine’ or Towers of Pain (this did not appeal to me). She also saw Andean Condors and Lesser Rheas as well as a host of other birds.
You can read a full report on Roses’s fascinating talk in edition 109 of the Batis which will be published in February 2025.