Photograph of Puma

Puma in Torres del Paine National Park by Nick Cobb.

CHILE

Best Wildlife in Chile

Mammals
Puma, Blue Whale (mostly Feb-Mar), Chilean (Black) and Peale's Dolphins, Guanaco, Vicuna, Mountain Viscacha, Southern Pudu, Chilla, Patagonian Skunk, Marine Otter and Southern Sealion. Also a chance of Humpback Whale, Commerson's Dolphin, Kodkod and Large Hairy Armadillo.

Birds
Andean Condor, Andean, Chilean and James's (Puna) Flamingos, Humboldt and Magellanic Penguins, Black-browed, Buller's, Chatham and Salvin's Albatrosses, Lesser Rhea, Magellanic Woodpecker, Inca Tern, Many-coloured Rush Tyrant, Andean Avocet, Diademed Sandpiper Plover, Magellanic Plover, Tawny-throated Dotterel, eight or so endemics including Chilean Woodstar, Crag Chilia, Moustached Turca and White-throated Tapaculo, near-endemic Black-throated and Chestnut-throated Huet-huets, as well as tinamous, Black-necked and Coscoroba Swans, geese including Ruddy-headed, ducks including Flightless Steamer Duck and Torrent Duck, grebes, Pintado Petrel, Pink-footed Shearwater, Magellanic and Peruvian Diving Petrels, Peruvian Booby, Peruvian Pelican, cormorants, Black-faced and Puna Ibises, Black-chested Buzzard Eagle, caracaras, coots, Peruvian Thick-knee, Andean Lapwing, Puna and Two-banded Plovers, Rufous-chested Dotterel, Blackish and Magellanic Oystercatchers, Black-necked Stilt, Grey-breasted and Least Seedsnipes, Andean, Dolphin and Grey Gulls, Black Skimmer, Chilean Skua, Burrowing Parrot, Burrowing and Great (Magellanic) Horned Owls, Andean Swift, Andean and White-sided Hillstars, Giant and Oasis Hummingbirds, Peruvian Sheartail, Ringed Kingfisher, Andean and Chilean Flickers, miners, earthcreepers, cinclodes, Thorn-tailed Rayadito, Des Murs's Wiretail, canasteros, White-throated Treerunner, ground tyrants, Chocolate-vented and Spectacled Tyrants, negritos, Vermilion Flycatcher, Rufous-tailed Plantcutter, Tamarugo Conebill, sierra finches, Black-throated Flowerpiercer, Slender-billed Finch, Long-tailed and Peruvian Meadowlarks, and Black Siskin. Also a chance of Wandering (Antipodean) and both Royal Albatrosses, Swallow-tailed Gull, Cook's, Juan Fernandez, Masatierra (De Filippi's), Stejneger's and Westland Petrels, Buller's Shearwater (mostly Feb-Mar), Elliot's, Hornby's, Markham's, Wedge-rumped and White-bellied Storm Petrels, Stripe-backed Bittern, Austral Rail, Snowy Sheathbill, Rufous-bellied Seedsnipe, South American Painted Snipe, Sabine's Gull, Snowy-crowned Tern, Great and White-tailed Shrike Tyrants, Giant Conebill, and Canary-winged and Yellow-bridled Finches.

Other Natural Wonders of Chile

Torres del Paine Three spectacular isolated towers of granite rising to 2670 m (8760 ft) at the southern end of the Andes in the National Park named after them.

Best Sites for Wildlife in Chile

Photograph of Diademed Sandpiper Plover

Diademed Sandpiper Plover by Brian Field.

Photograph of Andean Condor

The magnificent Andean Condor by Dubi Shapiro.

Best Times for Wildlife in Chile

The best time to look for Puma and Blue Whale is March, when female Pumas usually have cubs to feed and are therefore more active than usual, but the peak time for birds is November, at the height of the austral spring, although from then until January can still be good.

Recommended Books etc. for Chile

A Wildlife Guide to Chile by S Chester. Helm, 2008.

Mammals of South America by R D Lord. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.

Field Guide to the Birds of Chile by A Jaramillo. Helm, 2003 (Revised Spanish Edition, Lynx Edicions, 2007).

Birds of South America: Non-Passerines by J R Roderiguez Mata et al. Harper Collins, 2006.

The Birds of South America: Passerines by R S Ridgely and G Tudor. University of Texas Press, 1989 and 1994 (Two volumes).

Trip Reports for Chile

Many trip reports, some for Chile, are posted on the websites listed here. On some of these websites some reports are independent and some are posted by tour companies who organize tours to Chile. These tour companies and others also post their own reports on their websites, which are listed under 'Some Organized Tours to Chile' below.

Local Guides and Tours in Chile

The costs of organized tours partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ. If you are travelling independently, employing such local guides will greatly increase your chances of seeing the wildlife you wish to see.

Accommodation in Chile

Some Organized Tours to Chile

There are many tour companies who organize tours to see mammals, birds, other wildlife and other natural wonders. The cost of these tours vary considerably according to such variables as the airlines used, the number of days the tours last, the number of sites visited, the number of people in the group (an important consideration if you wish to see such wildlife as rainforest mammals and birds), the number of tour leaders, the standard of accommodation and transport, and the percentage profit the company hopes to make. Generally, where the number of days tours last and the number of sites visited are similar, the cheapest tours are those that use the cheapest airlines, accommodation and local transport, that have the largest groups with the least number of leaders, and that make the least amount of profit. The most expensive tours tend to be those which are exceptionally long, use the most expensive accommodation (ridiculously lavish in some cases, even for single nights) and which make the most profit. Some tour costs partly reflect the quality of the tour leaders. Some leaders are certainly better than others and many companies claim their leaders are the best but even the best rely at least to some extent on the exceptional skills of the local guides they employ.

While tour companies organize tours with set itineraries many also organize custom tours for individuals and private groups who instead of taking a tour with a set itinerary want to follow their own itinerary to suit their own personal tastes, whether it be mammals, birds, other wildlife, other natural wonders or even man-made attractions, or a mixture of them all. Many organized tours with set itineraries are also fast-paced and target as many species as possible, whether they are mammals, birds or other wildlife or everything, which usually leaves little time to enjoy the best sites and individual species, but on a custom tour those taking part can specify the pace and the sites and species they wish to concentrate on. Custom tours also suit people who like to travel with people they already know, rather than with a group of strangers, and people with partners with different interests. Individuals and small groups will almost certainly have to pay more than the price of an organized tour with a set itinerary but a large group of friends may be able to travel for less than the price quoted for a set tour.

Tour companies who run organized tours or can arrange custom tours to Chile include the following.