As we continue our journey, we come across the Magellanic penguins we already know. A short detour of “only” 120 km to go and 120 km to come back takes us to a large Magellanic penguin colony of approx. 250,000 penguins at Cabo Virgenes. On the Chilean island of Chiloé, we have already had the pleasure of seeing these curious creatures, but only briefly. This time we spend the night in the middle of the penguin colony at the southernmost point of the Argentinian mainland!

Penguins wherever you look

Even on the last few meters before the beach, the path is lined with Magellanic penguins to the left and right. The older ones have a very dark, black plumage with the characteristic white markings on their necks. And scattered everywhere in between are young penguins. Since their birth in November, they are now almost as big as their parents in January. But their gray, fluffy plumage demonstrates their young age. The landscape behind the beach is steppe-like, with many small bushes growing on very sandy ground. The penguins have dug their nests here, preferably under a bush, so that they are a little more protected from the weather than just by the hollow in the ground. And there really are penguins everywhere. Sometimes alone, sometimes in threes with their offspring, the penguins are standing or lying all over the place.

They run in groups from the sides of the path to within a few meters of the visitors and after that wait until they can cross the visitor path at a safe distance. The penguins are clearly used to people but still need a safe distance of a few meters to avoid being stressed out. This makes our visit to the penguin colony a truly immersive experience. We are not just observers but feel part of the colony. There is a reason for this. We are still in a protected area, but the administration of the nature park has been abandoned. Therefore, we camp in the visitor parking lot for the night. Everything is quiet at first, but when all the other day visitors have left, the first penguins dare to come close to our car. And when one dares, the rest of his group follows close behind. We soon have at least 10 penguins under our car, who are happy about the great weather protection. We are a little less happy, as the curious creatures scan everything with their beaks. That rattles quite a bit! Fortunately, like us, penguins are active during the day. With that said, all the noise stops just in time for dusk at 10 pm. When we open the door again the next morning, we are amazed to see two handfuls of penguins clumsily waddling away again – they must have been sleeping right underneath us.

The Magellanic penguins are funny little fellows. But just as clumsy, a little smelly and very loud! While the young stay near the nests during the day, at least one of the parents goes hunting in the sea. The young call for their parents all day long and as soon as the parents are out of the water, they call back. Quite a racket with so many penguins.
We wouldn’t want to stay here for more than one night. But it was a great experience nonetheless – after all, it was our first night in the middle of a penguin colony!