We woke up early this morning so we could catch the morning bus back to El Calafate. Since we were the first people to board the bus, we were able to claim the front seats on the top deck of the double-decker bus. But unfortunately there was a light rain that morning so we couldn't really see out. We were back in El Calafate by noon. We returned to Posada Karut Josh for one last evening, dropped off our bags, and headed into town.

We had the whole afternoon free, and the weather had turned sunny and bright. I wanted to head down to the Laguna Nimez Reserve, which is on the north side of town. I had seen a brochure showing flamingos, and I thought it would be neat to see wild flamingos.

Laguna Nimez Reserve is a bird sanctuary. It has two large pools and a marked trail that circles them. There are two bird blinds, where you can sit and observe the birds while remaining hidden from them. There are also two open platforms for bird watching. The official guide suggested planning 1 1/2 hours for a visit, but we stayed much longer that. I kept thinking how much my mom would have enjoyed a visit like this - she could have brought her super long lens and taken some really great shots of those birds.

The star of Laguna Nimez is certainly the Austral Flamingos, also called Chilean Flamingos. There were plenty of flamingos present, but unfortunately we couldn't get that close to them. We did have our binoculars and the zoom lens on the cameras. We watched as they took off and landed - they are so distinctive in flight, with their long necks stretched out in front and the stilt legs trailing behind.

In addition to the flamingos, we saw hawks, geese, ducks, coots, swans and some smaller birds. The meadowlark was perhaps the most colorful bird that we saw. (There are supposed to be blue/white Chilean swallows present, but we did not see any of them). When we left the reserve, we happened upon a pair of blackfaced ibis feeding on a lawn.

For dinner, we went to an establishment called La Tratto. Because Argentina is famous for its beef, I ordered a steak. Melanie got a Hawaiian pizza. We used up the last of our Argentinian currency, which we were happy to get rid of, because the US banks will not exchange Argentinian pesos back into dollars. After our big dinner, we walked to the entrance of El Calafate to get some photographs of the welcoming signs. Then it was back to Posada Karut Josh for some packing - it was our last night in South America, the end of a great trip.

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Panorama Photos

Maps

Here is a map showing the city of El Calafate. The Laguna Nimez reserve is located just outside the city limits on the shore of Lago Argentino. It is an easy walk to get there.

We got a flyer that had description of 20 or so points of interest inside the reserve.

This is the trail map. There are two bird blinds, where you can sit and watch the birds. There are two open viewing platforms too.

Videos

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Laguna Nimez Pan

Flamingos

Flamingos Feeding

Flamingos Flying

Chimango

Chimango Flying

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Laguna Nimez Photos