Estancia Rincon Chico

serious marine wildlife and superb guiding

Estancia Rincon Chico is located in the Península Valdés region of eastern Argentina.

Set on the remote southeast tip of the Península Valdés, 230 km (140 miles) from the airport at Trelew, Estancia Rincón Chico is a simply outstanding coastal property.

On this private ranch, set back 5 km (3 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean, the only neighbours are the indigenous wildlife and the right whales, orcas, elephant seals and penguins that visit the 16 km (10 miles) of private beaches.

This large and important wildlife area is reserved for the exclusive use of guests at the lodge. Unlike most other properties on the peninsular, day visitors are not permitted, which greatly adds to the quality of the experience.

The farm is owned and hosted by María and Agustín Olazábal, whose family travelled from the French Pyrenees to start sheep farming here in the 1890s.

The lodge is contained within a traditional ranch house, built in the Patagonian style, with a wrap-around verandah. Close by is the original house on the property, which was actually shipped in kit form from England in 1897.

The main lounge is a lovely cosy place, littered with books and videos by prominent authors and film crews about the property and its wildlife. Through the windows you can often spot various native animals, like viscachas and Humboldt’s hog-nosed skunks, as they wander past outside.

The owners are very focused on minimising their environmental impact and are committed to the use of clean energy, the conservation of natural resources like water and and the optimal management of waste.

The property receives regular accolades from prominent wildlife and travel organisations, including the BBC and NatGeo. It’s generally regarded as being one of the best lodges in the whole of South America.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Estancia Rincon Chico is in just 8 rooms, all with heating and private bathrooms.

Activities

Estancia Rincon Chico provides access to a wide range of activities …

• wildlife watching
• hiking
• horse-riding
• mountain-biking
• marine safari
• submarine safari
• diving

One of the great advantages of staying here is that the guides are extremely experienced, with most of them having worked on multiple documentary shoots by prominent wildlife film producers like the BBC and NatGeo.

Key wildlife encounters include orcas (which beach themselves when hunting seal pups Oct-Dec and Mar-Apr), elephant seals (all year, but best during the Sep-Jan breeding season), sea lions, Magellanic penguins (Sep-Apr) and Southern right whales (June to mid-December).

Land mammals include guanacos and vicunas (llama relations), Patagonian maras and viscachas (both a bit like rabbits), South American grey foxes, Patagonia skunks and Patagonia hairy armadillos.

Amongst the bird species, the most notable are Darwin’s rheas and two endemics, Chubut steamer ducks and Olrog´s gulls.

Safari planning

Estancia Rincon Chico is usually visited for 3-4 nights, most commonly in combination with the Los Glaciares area of Patagonia, which shares a similar seasonality.

Seasonality

The best time to visit Península Valdés is generally considered to be during the Oct-Mar southern spring-summer-autumn period.

Península Valdés officially has a ‘semi-arid climate’, with two reasonably clearly defined seasons …

During the Oct-Mar summer season the weather is relatively warm and dry. Daytime temperatures usually reach around 21C/70F, with nighttime lows holding up around 12C/54F. Rainfall during this period is down around 12mm (0.5”) per month. Sunshine averages out around 9 hours per day (around 75% of daylight hours). But it can be quite windy.

During the Apr-Sep winter season the conditions are significantly cooler, and very slightly wetter. Daytime temperatures usually struggle up to around 12C/54F, with nighttime lows falling to around 4C/39F. The rainfall during this period is only around 25mm (1”) per month. Sunshine drops to around 4 hours per day in Jun-Jul (about 50% of daylight hours).

In terms of wildlife, fortunately most of the migratory animals also visit the Península Valdés area during the warm summer months. The only slight exception are the Southern right whales, which arrive in June and are gone by mid-December, so you might miss them.

The main orca hunting seasons are Oct-Dec for elephant seals and Mar-Apr for sea lions.

Getting there

Península Valdés is usually accessed via Trelew International Airport (REL), with regular direct connections with Buenos Aires and more occasionally with El Calafate (for Los Glaciares National Park) and Ushuaia (for cruises around Cape Horn and to Antarctica).

From Trelew it’s a road transfer of 100-250 km (60-150 miles), assuming that you choose to stay at one of the more remote lodges out by the coast.

the elephant seals are unbelievably huge