Trip Report – Endemic Mammals of the Southern Cone – Royle Safaris – February 2025
In February 2025 Royle Safaris was once again in southern South America. One of our clients who has seen a member of every bird family in the world is now working his way through the mammals and is nearing the end of this quest too.
A handful of South American mammal families could be seen (with some luck) in a combined Argentina and Chile tour and so off we went. The main targets were Franciscana, Monito del Monte and Shrew-opossum. We were pretty confident of the first two but the last one would be tricky and we so we were not too optimistic.
However the trip turned out to be a great success with all three of these families being seen, specifically franciscana, southern monito del monte (many of them and seen very well) and at least one confirmed (and maybe other unconfirmed) long-nosed shrew-opossum. These high value target species were seen alongside 30 other species of mammals including some other very cool species such as kodkod, screaming hairy armadillo, southern pudu, South American fur seal, two species of tuco-tuco and a large number of endemic rodent species.
This part of the world is incredible and has barely been explored by mammalwatchers. So much so that with the help of the incredible local guides Royle Safaris will be back there in 2027 on the first dedicated mammalwatching group tour to the Southern Cone. We will travel up and down Argentina from coast to mountain and hope to see well over 50 species of mammals. We are just finalising the itinerary and details now and in the next 2-3 weeks will be ready to promote the trip.
If you are interested in this new tour or arranging a private tour of the region, whether for specific targets (such as this trip) or a more general wildlife watching tour please get in touch (info@royle-safaris.co.uk).
Trip Report – Endemic Mammals of the Southern Cone Tour – Royle Safaris – Feb 2025
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