ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2009 | 5THE GLOBAL EDITION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES.

I t is one of nature’s rarest spectacles: akiller whale (orca) cruising back and forthless than 20 meters (65 feet) off the

coast suddenly turns and beaches itself,three tons of predatory energy slammingonto a rocky shore to snatch a sea lion pupin its viselike jaws and then ride the wavesback out to sea as if it were the most naturalthing in the world.

Argentina’s Península Valdés is one ofonly two places on the planet where thiswildlife drama unfolds, made all the morecompelling by the fact that visitors can actu-ally watch from a nearby viewing area.

South America’s version of the SerengetiPlains, the mushroom-shaped peninsula isfound about halfway down Argentina’s roughand tumble Atlantic Coast. The monotonousterrain and sparse vegetation belie an as-tonishing array of wildlife, both onshore andoff the coast. Nowhere else on the continentare so many large animals found in suchhuge numbers at such close proximity: hulk-ing elephant seals, cute little Magellanicpenguins, the llamalike guanaco, a hugeflightless bird called the rhea and the world’slargest concentration of southern rightwhales.

What makes Península Valdés evenmore compelling is that so many of thesecreatures seem oblivious to humans. Visit-ors can easily observe them while boating,walking along the shore or driving on thepeninsula’s trademark gravel roads.

Most people base themselves at nearbyPuerto Madryn, on the western shore of the

Golfo Nuevo, which has an airport with directconnections to Buenos Aires and a bustlingseaside town with the largest number of ho-tels, restaurants and shops in the peninsularegion. International rental car agencies of-fer a wide variety of vehicles in which to ex-plore the peninsula.

It is about an hour’s drive from PuertoMadryn to the national park entrance sta-tion on the Ameghino Isthmus. The adjacentvisitor center has a small museum with dis-plays on local wildlife and a tower withsweeping views across the peninsula and

the gulfs on either side. Twenty minutesdown the main road is Puerto Pirámide, theonly town inside the park and home to manyof the area’s adventure-travel outfitters.

Taking half a dozen visitors into the GolfoNuevo in a small wooden boat, one of them,the wildlife guide Mariano de Franceschi,spots a couple of dark-gray behemoths — amother right whale and her newborn grazingin shallow water. He pulls the boat directlybeside them, close enough to reach out andscratch their backs — but that is forbiddenby park rules.

‘‘They are called right whales,’’ he ex-plains, ‘‘because they were the right whalefor hunting, the correct whale.’’ So much sothat they were nearly hunted to extinction inthe early 20th century. Península Valdés isone of the few places where their numbershave remained steady.

Whale-watching cruises might be one ofthe more popular ways to explore PenínsulaValdés, but they are far from being the onlymeans to get up close and personal with thelocal wildlife. Scuba diving, mountain biking,guided vehicle excursions and kayaking areother possibilities.

Pirámide-based Patagonia Explorers(www.patagoniaexplorers.com) offers sea-kayaking trips with daily hikes and campingalong isolated shores inaccessible from theland.

For those with limited time, a self-drivecircumnavigation of the peninsula’s peri-meter road can yield numerous wildlife en-counters: thousands of elephant seals andsouthern sea lions below the cliffs at PuntaDelgada, frolicking in the surf or protectingtheir sandy patches of turf with aggressivedeportment; flocks of rhea and herds ofrust-colored guanaco browsing the steppenear Caleta Valdés; armadillos and grayfoxes around the ranger station at PuntaNorte. Visitors can also see the salt pans(salinas) that are the lowest points in SouthAmerica (42 meters below sea level).

Several old sheep ranches (estancias)around the peninsula have morphed intoboutique hotels or small adventure travelhubs. In addition to six cozy ranch-stylerooms, La Ernestina at Punta Norte offersguided walking and 4x4 tours, as well as ac-cess to beaches normally off-limits to visit-ors (www.laernestina.com). ‘‘The family hasowned the estancia since 1907,’’ says JuanCopello, who is both the ranch owner and anorca researcher. ‘‘It’s still a working ranchwith 7,000 merino sheep producing wool.’’

Both air and water temperatures are no-ticeably warmer during the southern hemi-sphere summer (December-March), butspring (September-November) — when theorcas, right whales, elephant seals and pen-guins are in residence — is the best seasonfor wildlife viewing. J.R.Y.

Protecting World Heritageproperties is crucial to our planet,and each year thousands ofvolunteers make a difference bygiving their time to restoration orresearch projects that help savewhales, develop educationalschemes or contribute to othervaluable preservation efforts.

Volunteers, often working inremote locations, might fightdangers from natural causes likeearthquakes or floods, or battlehuman-induced problems caused bypollution or tourism. They must beat least 18 years old, but noexperience is necessary; bothordinary citizens and specializedprofessionals do their part. Mostprojects are coordinated far aheadof time, so it is best to submit anapplication well in advance onhttp://whc.unesco.org J.J.

Ever since the creation in 1931 ofthe Reverso, a watch invented forpolo players, Jaeger-LeCoultre hasremained active in the sport. Eachyear, it organizes a polo party inArgentina, the world capital of thesport, and makes donations tocharities for children there and inother areas of South America.

This activity is just one facet ofthe Swiss watchmaker’s corporatesocial responsibility policy. Jaeger-LeCoultre also makes an annualcontribution to the Nuestra Señoradel Pilar Home for homeless andabandoned children. Thanks to thisbequest, the 31 youngsters livingthere can go to school, participatein artistic activities and even takeprofessional training programs. Thehome also offers workshops forresident children that are open toteenagers and families from the

local community. In addition, Jaeger-LeCoultre helps finance a charitableassociation backed by AdolfoCambiaso, one of the world’s toppolo players, to provide medicalcare for Latin American youngsters.

‘‘This social corporateresponsibility policy has evolvedover time and now offers assistanceto a wider range of needyindividuals,’’ says Isabelle Gervais,Jaeger-LeCoultre’s director ofinternational public relations. ‘‘Wewill pursue this policy in SouthAmerica, but in other parts of theworld as well.’’ Jaeger-LeCoultre hasalso helped renovate wells inEthiopia to provide water for over40,000 people, in partnership withthe Military and Hospitaller Order ofSt. Lazarus of Jerusalem, anorganization founded in 1098,during the First Crusade. J.J.

SPOTLIGHT | Península Valdés

Protected promontory is a haven for marine mammals in placid Patagonian seas

Polo parties and a helping hand around the world

EXPLORING | Whale-watching, scuba diving, kayaking and more

Up close and personal with rare wildlife

The island environment shelters huge numbers ofseals, sea lions, whales and penguins.

P enínsula Valdés, a promontory poking into the At-lantic off Argentina, is basically an island. Dis-covered in 1779, it is linked to South America by a

narrow isthmus, 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) wide on aver-age. This island environment makes it a haven for mar-ine birds and mammals, and the peninsula also owes itsplace on the World Heritage List to its great variety ofcoastal species. These include nearly 200 types ofseabirds, which find shelter, food and nesting sites on itsspectacular cliffs and surrounding islets.

Lying between the Gulf of San José to the west, theNuevo Gulf to the south and the Atlantic to the east, thepeninsula has calm, lukewarm waters that are perfectfor the breeding and colonizing needs of three large,threatened marine mammals: the southern sea lion, thesouthern elephant seal and the southern right whale.This natural panorama gives Península Valdés its uniqueuniversal value — a key criterion for World Heritagestatus.

The placid Patagonian seas shelter the planet’snorthernmost population of southern elephant seals,the only one reportedly on the increase, largely thanks tothe site’s protected status. Over 1,000 come ashore to

mate and calve from August to November. The site isalso a breeding point for the southern sea lion, a speciesthat has been relentlessly hunted over past centuries,although it presents no serious conservation problemstoday, again partly due to World Heritage protection.

The rarer southern right whales use the protectedzone as mating areas from April to June. Though foundworldwide, their numbers are small. The American Ceta-cean Society puts their populationin the southern hemisphere ataround 4,000; those at PenínsulaValdés make up around 38 percentof this total.

Whales are protected in otherWorld Heritage sites, but these sites do not safeguardsouthern right whales or play host to the seal and sea li-on populations that make this South American site sorich in marine fauna. They also lack orcas, or killerwhales, which visit Península Valdés between Octoberand December. They have developed a spectacular ap-proach to hunting, pursuing young sea lions or elephantseals into the shallows, then grabbing them in their jaws.‘‘It’s unique the way these orcas have adapted their

hunting techniques to the coastal environment, one ofthe most important features of this site and partly whyit’s protected as World Heritage,’’ says Fanny Douvere,Unesco’s World Heritage Marine Program coordinator. Inrecent years, it has also become big tourist draw.

Argentina’s government has played a defining role inshielding this trio of irreplaceable marine mammals,passing legislation protecting them, even declaring the

southern right whale a natural monu-ment. In 1974, the Gulf of San José,one of the whale’s main breedingspots, was declared a Provincial Mar-ine Park. In 1983, Península Valdéswas made a Natural Reservation for

Integrated Tourism Development, which ensures thatthe site stays environmentally friendly. All these stepshave been vital in maintaining the ecosystem.

Pressures and stress levels on Península Valdéshave remained relatively light until recently. Despite asmall local population of 200 people and a fewscattered sheep farms, tourism is a danger that Unescoand the Argentine authorities will soon be forced to con-front head-on. The whales, seals and sea lions are im-

portant economically as tourist attractions, since themain motivation for a trip to Península Valdés is wildlifeobservation. Whale-watching, for instance, generates anestimated $10 million per year.

Since it was designated a World Heritage site in1999, Península Valdés has seen a steady rise in tour-ism. ‘‘It has become a major destination for cruises andwhale-watching,’’ says Douvere. ‘‘The annual number oftourists is going toward 150,000 and might soon be at atipping point, considering the size of the area —360,000 hectares [889,579 acres] — and its limitedtourism infrastructure facilities.’’

Though World Heritage status did not automaticallyprotect the whales, it does encourage local manage-ment to address issues that affect the marine area andits biodiversity. To help the site’s management find waysto accommodate tourists and ensure that any infra-structure conceived for them keeps the vulnerable hab-itat out of harm’s way, the World Heritage Centre spon-sors cooperation among site managers by bringingexperienced staff to Península Valdés from othersites who can share their own solutions to sustainabletourism. J.J.

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Visit the Tides of Time Web site for videos,interviews and more information on World Heritagemarine sites: whc.unesco.org/tidesoftime/

Killer whales providean exciting spectacle

for tourists

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Península Valdés, a WorldHeritage marine site off the coastof Argentina, provides shelterto a trio of irreplaceable marinemammals, and it is also hometo nearly 200 types of seabirds

Valuable volunteers

Orcas, or killer whales, have developeda dramatic way of capturing sea lions oryoung elephant seals by hurlingthemselves at their prey near the shore.

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