Patagonia Photography Tour | Chris Bray Photography
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  • patagonia photo tour elephant seal
  • patagonia photo tour southern right whale
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Patagonia Photography Tour


Patagonia Tour Brochure
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A unique combination of two UNESCO world heritage locations, each boasting some of the world's most dramatic scenery and amazing wildlife! Our incredible photography permits let you stay surrounded by curious Southern Right whales throughout the golden hour aboard our exclusive boat charters and access bull elephant seals down at eye-level from their breeding beach in Argentina rather than the cliff-top lookout. Shoot Chile's world-famous Torres Del Paine national park in perfect lighting with its soaring mountains, azure lakes, golden grasslands and epic glaciers! Then join expert puma trackers in the hopes of capturing photographs of Patagonia's top predator: the elusive puma. Add in armadillos, guanacos (like Llamas), skunks, Patagonian foxes, penguins, sea lions, condors and more, Patagonia truly is one of nature's wonderlands.

Patagonia Tour Highlights


  • 10 Reasons
    to travel with us
    Curious mother and calf southern right whales swimming so close to our boat you'll be wiping whale-breath from your lens.
  • Photograph the elusive puma, Patagonia's apex predator.
  • Spectacular granite spires, soaring mountains, azure lakes, golden grasslands and epic glaciers of Torres del Paine National Park in Chile.
  • Armadillos, guanacos (like Llamas), elephant seals, skunks, Patagonian foxes, sea lions, Magellanic penguins, buzzards, condors and more!
  • Special access to an elephant seal breeding beach to photograph the enormous males rearing-up and fighting!
  • Photographing tail-lobbing and breaching southern right whales against the golden sky at sunset.

Patagonia Photo Tour Dates

Maybe One Day?
Great! 😊 We can let you know about future dates, or if someone pulls out!
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Patagonia photo tour brochure

Patagonia Tour Booklet


Everything you need to know about this Patagonia photo tour!

Patagonia Photo Tour FAQ

What is a Photo Tour?

Loved by non-photographers too, our photo tour holidays offer the ultimate, small-group travel experience to the world's most wonderful and unique places - with special access away from the crowds. I love to travel, but I hate being stuck with loads of other people (especially when we've got nothing in common), being taken to the regular, over-crowded tourist attractions or wasting hours in an amazing country just relaxing by some pool. I want to get the most out of my holidays - I want to see as many different animals as I can, I want to travel through different landscapes and be shown hidden gems off the beaten path, I want to experience the culture, taste the food, meet new friends with similar interests, enjoy some luxury and importantly, I want to have the time to take some beautiful and unique photos of it all. This is what we strive for with our photography tours and workshops.

It's not enough for me to spot a distant lion, tick it off and move on - I want to have the option to try and get closer, on the correct side for best lighting and even wait for him to lift his head and stare directly down the barrel of my camera lens for a great photo - or to move on when I'm done - I want flexibility. I want the inside tips for the best photo location to be ready when the sun rises over the horizon and spills across the bay onto those boulders - and if I can't quite get my photo to work, it'd be awesome to have a friendly pro-photographer right there to offer advice (not one who'll stand in front of me to get the best shot themselves!). If there's a seal colony out on an island nearby, then I'd want to charter a boat tour out there just with my friends onboard so we can spend as long or as short as we want to get the photos without being crowded on a regular sight-seeing tour. If the seal colony was a bit of a tourist attraction on a local beach then I'd want to wait for the crowds to leave, and go down onto the beach after hours - just us as a small group, and a private ranger guide to photograph them at our leisure in beautiful evening lighting.

You don't even need to be a photographer to love this style of holiday - who wouldn't like a bit of luxury and a bit of extra patience from their tour leaders, or to be given the opportunity to fly over lakes covered in pink flamingos in Africa in a doors-off plane or over a beautiful coastline in a doors-off helicopter for some epic views? Stay on a private island, learn some new skills with your photography, make some new friends and have an unforgettable, unique holiday - all at the same time! Sound good? Well, there's a reason more than half of our guests come back again, and again on our photo tours!

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Do I have to be a photographer?

Absolutely not! We have many non-photographers (and partners of photographers) enjoy our tours! As one guest said "It didn’t matter that I’m not a photographer - I used my iPhone. Just experiencing all these amazing locations at a relaxed pace, in comfort and without the crowds was wonderful!". The expert photography tuition is a bonus - the incredible access to experience the best places in a tiny group is the main thing! If you're traveling to take photos, or just as a holiday - in the end, it's all about seeing as many of the amazing animals as possible, experiencing the local food and culture, admiring the landscapes, breathing the fresh air and enjoying the whole unforgettable experience with a small group of friends. Whether or not you put a camera in front of your face doesn't really change this. We've had many non-photographers come on our tour, enjoying just spotting animals, identifying them, or watching their behaviour and by the end of the trip many of them do start picking up a camera (or borrowing one of ours) and start getting excited about photography too! Some have later gone on to become full-on photographers, to the delight of their partners! Either way, they have a ball and often come away with us again and again.

Most photography guests are beginner to keen-enthusiast level - so no need to stress that your photography may not be good enough - the whole point is to improve your photography, no matter what your level! Our tours are enjoyed by everyone from non-photographers, iPhone and happy-snap photographers right up to serious professionals. We start each tour with a quick photography crash-course, and our expert photography guides are there to help you throughout the whole tour. There is no better way to improve your photography than spending a solid week or two practicing, surrounded by amazingly inspiring subjects, with a small, friendly group of like-minded people. You will be amazed how much your photography will improve. We're there to offer as much or as little assistance as you'd like, at whatever level of complexity you're ready for.

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How fit do I need to be?

The level of physical activity varies for each of our tours (check the dropdown for each specific tour), however none involve strenuous hiking or anything like that. In Kenya, for example, the hardest thing you'll have to do is walk to and from your tour vehicle mostly, other destinations involve things like optional snorkelling, or may include short walks or humid conditions. We've had 83 year old guests, guests with bad knees and even heart-conditions do even what we consider our most strenuous tours, so rest assured the tour you're looking at is very likely achievable. If you're concerned, just ask us. The tour information booklet we provide for each tour gives a clearer indication of what's involved for each destination. We're very mindful of the abilities of our guests and can always provide less demanding alternatives for those wishing a break.

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What gear do I need?

For each of our tours, we've carefully prepared a detailed information booklet covering everything including our recommendations for what kind of clothes to bring, what type of power plug, what currency, what the climate is like, language tips and plenty of other information to help answer all your questions! We'll send you a copy of this information booklet when you book, or you can email us for one in advance. As for what kind of camera gear is best, whatever you have is fine, but if you've got too much and need help deciding what to bring and what to leave behind, or if you have a bit of money you could spend on getting something really perfect for the trip, please just contact us and we can certainly help you out with what's ideal for each particular tour!

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Traveling alone?

Fear not - more than half of our tour guests travel solo. To help you make friends before you even leave and to be reassured and aided by the advice of your fellow-travellers (and those who have gone before you), we've created an interactive Facebook group for our CBP Voyager Club members (that's anyone who's been on, or is going on any of our tours, which also gives them 5-10% OFF any future tours!). You can find out who's coming from your area, perhaps even meet up beforehand or fly together. This is a great resource and we encourage you to make the most of it if you're on Facebook! Anyone can read the CBP Voyager Club Facebook page, but you can only interact once you've paid your deposit.

And do not worry that most accommodation is twin-share - we're good at pairing you up with a roomie who you'll get along with - it has been the start of long-term friendships for many! We can't guarantee that we'll always be able to have you sharing with someone of the same sex - it depends on the gender split, but we do our best. You can request to purchase a single supplement (a room to yourself) if you really need to (subject to availability) though keep in mind that you're usually only in your rooms to sleep as we fill your waking hours with plenty to do, and the couple of occasions we have had guests request rooms to themselves, they end up regretting it when they see the amazing friendships that form between the other roomies.

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Can you cater for dietary needs?

Of course we can - even in places like Kenya we've successfully catered for vegan, gluten-free, lactose-intolerant and vegetarian guests, and all have had a wonderful tour.

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Worried about safety?

Rest assured that we do not travel through any of the major danger hot-spots like those highly warned against in travel advisory boards etc. For example, in Kenya, we do not even pass through downtown Nairobi and we operate completely away from the coast / Mombasa region and the Somali border. The fact that we like to take you to the more tranquil, less-touristy places on our tours conveniently means we only ever spend minimal time in busy, built up areas or large tourist attractions where thieves or terrorists might target - most of the places we stay at are quite rural and private, and you'll quickly feel right at home & safe.

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Booking Terms and Conditions?

Our cancelation policies are in line with other leading tourism operators, and you can read all about them here in our Booking Terms and Conditions. We are proud to employ industry best-practices.

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What is the CBP Voyager Club?

The Voyager Club is our photo tour loyalty program! As our photo tours apparently can be very addictive (we've had guests come to more than half a dozen of our tours!), we created the Chris Bray Photography Voyager Club, giving repeat guests 5% OFF future tours with automatic Silver Membership, and then 10% OFF as Gold Members after their fifth tour with us.

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How do I book in?

Either click the 'Book Now' button above and fill in your details, or simply contact us and let us know which tour you're keen to join us on, and we'll send you a deposit invoice to secure your spot, along with the tour information booklet and our Booking Terms and Conditions.

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Patagonia Tour Itinerary

Day 1 - Trelew, Argentina

Starting in the picturesque town of Trelew in Southern Argentina, we'll head in our private mini coach two hours to Puerto Piramides, which will be our base for the next week. Puerto Piramides is a UNESCO world heritage site, recognised not only as the best whale-watching place on Earth, but also for its wider marine life, birdlife and other wildlife. Featured in BBC and National Geographic documentary films, this rich area also boasts Magellanic penguins, dolphins, sea lions and southern elephant seals. Our accommodation for the next week is at the luxurious, waterfront Las Restingas Hotel De Mar. After settling in and a quick meet & greet and photography crash course (and perhaps spotting some whales playing through your panoramic, beachfront windows), we'll head to dinner.

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Day 2 to 6 (5 days) – Whales & Wildlife

Part whale watching, part shore-based, this week will blow you away. When the weather's good, we'll charter a large, private RIB (zodiac boat) with plenty of room and the best captain who knows exactly what we want in terms of lighting and backgrounds to get the best photos. This time of year, the whole bay is packed with southern right whales, including mothers and calves, and curiosity will bring these gentle giants (up to 15m long!) right alongside - so close you'll need your wide-angle lens and a lens-cloth to wipe off the whale-breath! Each encounter is captivatingly different, and with a bit of luck we'll experience everything from breaching, tail lobbing against the sunset, resting calves - even mating! We have the boat all day, but typically we'll go out early for the morning lighting for a few hours, come back for breaky, head back out again to try our luck in another area, come back for lunch, enjoy a few hours off to go through your photos or look for fossilised sharks teeth on the shore before then heading back out again in the late afternoon, staying out until the magical golden glow of sunset - long after regular tourists have to return to shore. Our special permits also allow us to explore wherever we want along the dramatic coastline, head out to find dolphins, sea lion colonies, outcrops of rock covered in terns, cormorants, kelp-gulls, giant petrels and 180 other species of birds!

We'll only be doing this marine photography for part of this week however, as whenever the weather's not great - or if we want a chance of scene - we'll head inland on various different day tours, exploring the local Peninsula Valdez. We've organised private access with a ranger right down onto the gravely beach (below the cliff-top viewing platform) where the huge Elephant Seals hang out. We'll photograph the enormous bull ‘Beach Masters' hopefully rearing up to fight for dominance and territory, the adorable big-eyed pups suckling, and try to freeze the moment when these seals flip arcs of sand over the top of themselves to keep cool. If we're lucky, we might even see orca as they patrol the shore. Patagonian foxes also hang around, as well as mara (like a hare crossed with a tailless Kangaroo), Darwin's lesser rhea (giant flightless bird similar to an emu), guanako (A type of Llama), armadillos, skunks and of course plenty more birds like crested tinamou, turkey vultures and more!

This first week is jam-packed, but any ‘spare time' you manage to find, there's plenty to do in this area from fascinating information centers to lovely little cafes, and you'll have plenty of photos to go through anyway, with us on hand to teach you some new tricks!

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Day 7 - To El Calafate

Today we’ll depart from Trelew (Argentina) and catch a short flight to El Calafate, arriving in time to explore the village this afternoon before transferring to our accommodation (the Posada Los Almos Hotel) for the next two nights. Tonight we’ll have dinner at one of the favourite restaurants in town, La Couzina.

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Day 8: Perito El Calafate

This morning we’ve arranged a private tour to the Perito Moreno Glacier, a glacier located in Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz Province. It’s an amazing glacier, 250 square kilometres and is the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water. It’s also one of the few glaciers that is still advancing, rather than retreating, and an incredible site to photograph. Tonight we’ll return to the Mirador Del Lago in El Calafate to get ready for the adventure to continue in Chile tomorrow!

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Day 9 - To Torres del Paine National Park

Today we’ll drive to Torres del Paine National Park, another UNESCO world heritage site, also home to an abundance of wildlife including guanacos and possibly even the elusive Puma. It boasts a huge diversity of birds including eagles, hawks, lesser reheas, buzzards, flamingo and South American condors that have returned from the brink of extinction. In fact, en route, near the border of Chile, we’ll stop at a Condor viewpoint to photograph these majestic birds!

The real draw card to this area is its incredible landscapes. The Torres del Paine igneous granite rock spires are millions of years old and dominate the views of South America’s first National Park. Surrounded by photogenic azure lakes, emerald forests, raging rivers and radiant blue glaciers, you’re in the middle of a picture-perfect postcard.

We'll be staying at the comfortable Hosteria Tercera Barranca for the next 5 nights, so spread out and make your self at home!

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Day 10 to 13 - Torres del Paine National Park

To give us the best possible chance of spotting the elusive Puma we have allocated 4 full days here and are being accompanied by one of the best Puma spotters in the business. In fact, our guide is so good and so well known in this area that we have had to hire our own undercover ‘hire' cars, as if we used his car we would be frequently stopped and followed by others seeking the same prize of the Puma. Every day we will be trying our luck at photographing the puma and will hopefully also come across other animals too like the grey and red fox, hairy armadillo, hog-nosed skunk, Chilean flamingo, Magellanic woodpecker, austral parakeet, austral pygmy owl, ringed kingfisher, black-chested bussard eagle, crested caracara and more!

We'll also have time to explore some of the hidden gems within the national park so we can photograph the dramatic landscapes from various different angles – without having to walk too far! There'll be waterfalls, glaciers, iceberg, forests, mountains, black sand beaches, azure lakes and more

Part of the beauty of travelling with a small group of like-minded photographers is that we have the flexibility to spend just as long or short as we want at each location, free to stop to get out and photograph whenever we see something interesting.

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Day 14 - End

That's it I'm afraid! This morning we'll drive back to Punta Arenas where we'll drop you at your hotel or at the airport for your flight home any time after 2PM. Where did those 14 days weeks just go? Well, I guarantee you'll have thousands of amazing photos to flick back through to remind yourself, forever, of one of the best journeys of your life!

When we say that after Punta Arenas we all fly home – Chris Bray Photography actually start their very next tour, their incredible ‘Galapagos, Amazon and Hummingbirds' tour straight after, so perhaps while you're already in South America some of you'd like to join our team for the double-whammy?!

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Please Note

IMPORTANT - Ensure you have read our Tour Booking Conditions prior to booking. The document covers everything from your rights, inclusions and payment schedule, to our cancellation policy and extent of liability.

All our photo tours are subject to minimum numbers. Please ensure you have read our tour Booking Conditions for our cancellation policy.

Sea Sickness - There are many boat trips on this photo tour and while the water is usually protected and calm, anyone who suffers from seasickness should bring appropriate medication.

All meals are provided but beverages must be purchased at your own expense.

Level of fitness - Moderate. You do need to be able to get in and out of boats, clamber down sand dunes onto the coastline for the elephant seals, and wander around for a morning or afternoon with your camera bag on your back to photograph the pumas.

The price includes internal flights (from Trelew, Argentina to Punta Arenas, Chile but does NOT include flights from your hometown to Trelew, Argentina),nor your return flight back home from Punta Arenas, Chile.

The price does NOT include visas or reciprocity fee's for entering Argentina or Chile.

We do not loan out our own camera equipment for this trip so be prepared to be self sufficient regarding your camera gear.

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Tour Reviews

what is a photography tour

What is a Photo Tour?


Loved by non-photographers too, we seek out the world's most extraordinary wildlife, landscape and cultural experiences then tour small groups there in comfort, providing unique access away from the crowds with exclusive charter of ships, aircraft, vehicles and remote lodges for not only the most incredible, unhurried photography opportunities on Earth, but also an unforgettable holiday. I love to travel, but I hate being stuck with loads of other people (especially when we've got nothing in common), being taken to the regular, over-crowded tourist attractions or wasting hours in an amazing country just relaxing by some pool. I want to get the most out of my holidays - I want to see as many different animals as I can, I want to travel through different landscapes and be shown hidden gems off the beaten path, I want to experience the culture, taste the food, meet new friends with similar interests, enjoy some luxury and importantly, I want to have the time to take some beautiful and unique photos of it all. This is what we strive for with our photography tours and workshops.

It's not enough for me to spot a distant lion, tick it off and move on - I wan't to have the option to try and get closer, on the correct side for best lighting and even wait for him to lift his head and stare directly down the barrel of my camera lens for a great photo - or to move on when I'm done - I want flexibility. I want the inside tips for the best photo location to be ready when the sun rises over the horizon and spills across the bay onto those boulders - and if I can't quite get my photo to work, it'd be awesome to have a friendly pro-photographer right there to offer advice (not one who'll stand in front of me to get the best shot themselves!). If there's a seal colony out on an island nearby, then I'd want to charter a boat tour out there just with my friends onboard so we can spend as long or as short as we want to get the photos without being crowded on a regular sight-seeing tour. If the seal colony was a bit of a tourist attraction on a local beach then I'd want to wait for the crowds to leave, and go down onto the beach after hours - just us as a small group, and a private ranger guide to photograph them at our leisure in beautiful evening lighting.

You don't even need to be a photographer to love this style of holiday - who wouldn't like a bit of luxury and a bit of extra patience from their tour leaders, or to be given the opportunity to fly over lakes covered in pink flamingos in Africa in a doors-off plane or over a beautiful coastline in a doors-off helicopter for some epic views? Stay on a private island, learn some new skills with your photography, make some new friends and have an unforgettable, unique holiday - all at the same time! Sound good? Well, there's a reason more than half of our guests come back again, and again on our photo tours!
Photo Tour Destinations

Photo Tour Destinations


Most years we run photography tours from as far down as Antarctica, up through various parts of Africa, South America and Australia to as high as Alaska and even Iceland and Greenland in the Arctic - and we're adding new photo tours all the time. Take a look at our 'Photography Tour' page to see our list of tour destinations!

Who is Chris Bray?


Chris grew up sailing around the world then leading world-first expeditions across the arctic before becoming an award-winning Australian Geographic photographer, Lowepro ambassador and now Lumix global ambassador. Chris’s work has appeared in National Geographic and Discovery Channel along with Australian Geographic, TIME Magazine etc. He’s also an accomplished writer, with feature articles published around the world and even a successful book 'The 1000 Hour Day' (now an award-winning documentary 'The Crossing'), sits on the advisory committee for The Australian Geographic Society and is founder and CEO of Conservation United, aiming to crowd-funding the world’s critical conservation projects. Chris is also an International Fellow of 'The Explorers Club' and has been chairman of their Australia and New Zealand chapter.

Chris is also a keen high-latitude sailor the first to sail a junk-rig boat through the Northwest Passage over the arctic, on a little 29-foot wooden sailboat 'Teleport'. Australian Geographic Society's 'Young Adventurer of the Year' in 2004 for a Tasmanian wilderness hike, Chris has also been awarded their 'Spirit of Adventure' medal in 2009.

Chris still leads many of our tours and his passion for wildlife, photography and wild places continues to drive our growth.

Read more about our whole Chris Bray Photography team on our 'About' page.