Wildlife Trips from Puerto Montt, Chile |

Birding, Wildlife Safaris & Photographic Trips from Puerto Montt or Puerto Varas, Chile

Marine Otter © Jorge Valenzuela, Far South Expeditions

Check out our selection of wildlife journeys and nature tours in Puerto Montt / Puerto Varas, Chile

Puerto Montt day trips. The area around the city of Puerto Montt, capital of Chile’s lush Los Lagos province (Lake District), is regarded as the rainiest and greenest part of the country, so it comes as no surprise that most of its mountains and lowland are covered in the exuberant Temperate Subantarctic Rainforest typical to this region, a beautiful habitat framed in snow-capped volcanoes and quiet, blue lakes that is full of wildlife surprises that you can unveil and enjoy through these series of day-long nature trips we have devised in order to try and cover the most of what this evergreen country has to offer. These tours are highly recommended for cruise passengers with restricted time at the port of Puerto Montt, and all include private transportation and the services of an experienced guide.

You can start by taking our Puerto Montt Nature Trip, exploring the wildlife riches of these woods and their bird specialties like Chucao and Ochre-flanked Tapaculos, Black-throated Hued-hued or Magellanic Woodpecker in Alerce Andino National Park . Stopping on our way back at the exposed sandy beach of Coihuin Bay we’ll look for flocks of wintering Nearctic shorebirds such as Hudsonian Godwit and Whimbrel.

If you feel a little more adventurous, you can take a ferry across the Chacao channel into Chiloe Island for a full day photography and wildlife excursion to this magical realm, with its old customs and peculiar villages, boats and churches. On this Chiloe Island Nature Trip, we’ll board a boat to have close views of a mixed colony of Magellanic and Humboldt penguins, plus some marine waterfowl like Flightless Steamer Duck and Kelp Goose and some marine mammals such as Southern Sea Otter and other wildlife. Later we’ll visit a bay, which is an important stop for migrating waders like Red Knot and other seabirds such as Black Skimmer.

For hard-core sea birders, we recommend our Puerto Montt Pelagic Trip. On this programme we will explore the usually protected waters of Reloncavi Sound searching for the enigmatic and recently described Pincoya Storm-Petrel. Departing from a marina near Puerto Montt (40°S), we will set off for a 6-hour pelagic trip aboard a comfortable and spacious sailing boat, exploring this large sound and the channel between Maillen and Huar islands. The inshore waters of Patagonia’s northern archipelago is the only-known habitat for this storm-petrel, one of the rarest and seldom-seen of the tubenoses. We will also have the opportunity to see other seabirds including Black-browed Albatross, Southern Giant Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Chilean Skua, Parasitic Jaeger (Arctic Skua), Kelp Gull and South American Tern. Pods of Peale’s Dolphin and South American Sea Lion are usually seen during the course of the navigation.