New Photos: Patagonia 2019 Pumas

Our first close encounter of the trip was a fleeting glimpse of a female puma and her tiny cubs early in the morning. Fortunately, we’d see much more of them later.

It took some effort to land our first clear photo ops, with more hiking involved than normal. Eventually this female did pop out in the open for us.

The last time I saw this female puma, she was a seven-month-old cub. This time, she was out on her own, surviving just fine despite the loss of an eye.

We had a couple of amazing encounters with the small cub foursome. On this evening they came over a ridge and walked right to a carcass 25 meters in front of us… without mom!

During this tour we encountered mother pumas with one, two, three and four cubs of various ages. These youngsters were estimated to be 4-5 weeks old, yet they weren’t too shy in our presence. What a treat to see them up close!

A mother and three juvenile cubs were feasting on a roadside carcass inside the park the last few days of our trip.

The tiny cubs were on display on another evening, right near the road in Torres del Paine.

Before they disappeared for the evening, this little cub ventured over to the perfect spot. Love that grass and the reflection.

After her cubs settled down, the mother finally emerged to go get dinner on her own. She ended up walking right by me.

Our final puma encounter involved this female cat, which attempted three different hunts. The first hunt was perhaps the most surprising, as she leaped into a pond and tried swimming after a swan. It didn’t pan out.

Afterward her failed swan hunt, she got out, shook the water off and came right at us. A nice way to end the tour.