Chile
The Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve occupies one of the most improbable intersections of life and landscape on Earth — a cluster of rocky islands and headlands along Chile's arid Norte Chico coast where the cold, nutrient-rich Humboldt Current collides with the Atacama Desert's edge, creating conditions that sustain an astonishing concentration of marine wildlife in a setting of stark, almost lunar beauty. Established in 1990, the reserve protects three islands — Chañaral, Choros, and Damas — and the surrounding marine zone, providing critical breeding habitat for the endangered Humboldt penguin, the species that gives the reserve its name.
The experience of visiting these islands begins with a boat ride from the fishing village of Punta de Choros, a hamlet of weathered houses and artisanal fishing boats that feels wonderfully removed from the modern world. As the panga rounds the first headland, the scale of wildlife becomes apparent: bottlenose dolphins often escort the boats, while fin whales — the second-largest animals ever to have lived — surface with explosive exhalations that send spray cascading across the bow. The islands themselves are striped white with guano and alive with motion — penguins waddle between nesting burrows, red-legged cormorants dry their wings on wave-battered rocks, and Peruvian diving petrels wheel overhead in numbers that recall the great seabird colonies of the sub-Antarctic.
Isla Damas, the only island where landing is permitted, offers a rare chance to walk among Humboldt penguins at close range. A trail of perhaps two kilometres circles the island's rocky shoreline, passing turquoise coves where penguins porpoise through crystalline water and South American sea lions haul out on sun-warmed boulders. The island's sparse vegetation — salt-tolerant succulents and the occasional cactus — provides minimal shade, and the desert light at this latitude is intense, lending the landscape a high-definition clarity that makes every feather and whisker seem etched against the sky.
The marine biodiversity of the reserve extends well beyond its charismatic megafauna. The kelp forests surrounding the islands shelter a complex ecosystem of sea urchins, abalone, and octopus that sustains the traditional livelihoods of Punta de Choros' fishing families. Seasonal visitors include blue whales, which pass through the area between December and March, and rare marine otters — chunco, as local fishermen call them — that hunt in the intertidal zone at dawn and dusk. The village itself offers simple but excellent seafood: freshly caught congrio (cusk-eel) prepared as caldillo, a warming broth flavoured with onions, potatoes, and cilantro, is the regional specialty.
Cruise ships visiting the Pingüino de Humboldt National Reserve typically anchor offshore and use Zodiacs to land passengers on Isla Damas or conduct wildlife cruises around the island group. The reserve is accessible year-round, but the austral spring and summer months from October through March offer the best conditions — penguin breeding activity peaks, whale sightings are most frequent, and the desert wildflowers that occasionally bloom after rare rains transform the coastal hills into brief, astonishing gardens of colour.