
Wild adult puma, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile ~ ©Jeff Parker
We’re near Torres del Paine National Park, Chile sitting in a van in the cold rain. Mary O. has just spotted a large male puma making his way down the hill to the guanaco kill we’ve been watching for the last hour. For the next 45 minutes we have the privilege of watching the interactions between this male, a female and two juvenile pumas at the kill–the sort of behavior very few folks have ever actually witnessed in the wild.

Wild puma mother and her kittens ~ ©Jeff Parker
Over the past few days we have observed and photographed four other pumas including a pair of 6-7 month old kittens. We have seen a variety of behavior including kittens playing, a stalk, grooming, and watching the cats simply generally being the supreme masters of their domain.
These are wild, free-ranging pumas going about their daily lives. Not game farm or otherwise captive animals. A year ago I would not have believed this was possible. At this location it’s not only possible, but virtually guaranteed.

Pehoe lake, Torres del Paine © Jeff Parker

Wild cougar kittens at play ~ ©Jeff Parker
The secretive nature of these cats is legendary. Many people live their whole lives in cougar country without ever seeing one. When they are spotted it’s typically a fleeting glimpse. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be deleting images of mountain lions because they are just not quite sharp enough. I would have been thrilled just to see one at all.
Most of our puma prowling took place on a 17,000 acre private ranch adjacent to the national park. Due to a recent rule change the park no longer allows off-trail hiking in pursuit of pumas.
Thankfully, our local contact has an agreement already in place allowing access to the ranch where we can roam as we wish. This is not only good for us but good for the pumas. By collecting a fee for access, the landowner has an incentive to allow the pumas to remain on his property without persecution.

Juveniles grooming ~ ©Jeff Parker

Guanaco in Patagonia ~ ©Jeff Parker

Andean Condor ~ ©Jeff Parker
The Darwin’s rhea, one of three “Lesser rhea” subspecies, are large flightless birds related to the ostrich and emu. The Darwin’s are slightly smaller than the Greater Rhea found in the Pantanal.
The IUCN Red List classifies Chilean flamingos as “Near Threatened.” These birds are one of four flamingo species in South America. It is slightly smaller than the Caribbean flamingo.
With a wingspan of nearly eleven feet, the Andean condor is the largest flying land bird in South America and one of the largest in the world. The IUCN lists them as “Near Threatened.” On the last day of the trip we had the pleasure of visiting a condor roost and watching eighty of these birds soaring above and below our cliff side perch. These birds kept flying above us, checking us out!
This was the trip of a lifetime as few people have ever seen pumas in the wild. I was making plans for a return trip to share with a few fellow adventurers even before we left.
UPDATE: My Pumas & Peaks in Patagonia Photo Tour ~ 2017 still has a spot available if you’re interested in photographing the cats in the wild.\