Today we had a tour to see Tronador mountain. This mount is known by its black glacier. When I read about it in our touristic booklet, I had thought that ''black'' is only the name of the glacier because maybe there are some black rocks there or something like that. However, I was notified that the ice of the glacier is really black. We had never seen a black glacier so I chose this tour.
Tronador mountain is about 90 km away from Bariloche, inside the Nahuel Huapi National Park. We went there by bus, passing lakes, crossing rivers and forest. It was already the fourth National Park in South America for us but certainly not the same as the others. We saw beautiful lakes, rivers and mountains like before, but there were two things I should comment on especially. The first we met on the turn from Road 40 (we drove there along Ruta 40 again!) to the Park. It was a wooden board, which marked a watershed between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. This watershed is named officially as a main watershed of the Earth, and it was surprising for us to reach it inside Argentina. The second point was Tronador itself.
The name Tronador means Thundering in English. The mountain is covered by a huge glacier, which is constantly moving and making loud noises. Everything else is the same as Perito Moreno Glacier, but Tronador is rounded by mountains and the echo increases the sound. As a result, its noise is similar to a thunder. The color of the ice is also different from the blue Perito Moreno ice. Tronador is a dormant volcano, and not as clean as the mountains around Perito Moreno. The upper side of glacier has natural white and light blue colors. Moving downwards, the ice collects volcanic ashes and other impurities so that the lowest part of the glacier is really black! The water at the bottom of the Tronador Glacier is not transparent and named glacial milk with black ice floes floating in it.
While returning home we remembered that it was Christmas Eve. I asked our guide to drop us not at the hotel, but at nearest supermarket to buy something for Christmas dinner. He asked me what shop I prefer - the nearest one or an open one. I chose the open one. It was a late afternoon, and all the shops were already closed. At last we had found one in downtown.
We had a good kitchen in our small hotel and cooked ourselves a full dinner including fresh salad, soup and chicken. We took our best dress clothes from our backpacks, where they had been waiting for nearly a month. Natasha put on a festive skirt for the first time from home and I had put on lavish white trousers.
Our small family Christmas party started exactly at midnight European time, not local. We sat against a large picture window. Our meal was delicious, the wine was good, our clothes were clean and beautiful, and Huapi Lake was the background for us.
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.