Argentina 2011

Hello all, some of you have seen my pictures on FB, but creating a thread here was long overdue.

Last April, I had the chance to get a glimpse of beautiful Argentina. Myself and a friend from Switzerland, Martin Hüsser, met up with Pato in Buenos Aires for the start of our little adventure. We had decided to go explore the Yungas, a semi-tropical, high elevation, very humdi type of forest known from the provinces of Salta and Jujuy. The main goal of the trip, as you can imagine, was to observe tarantulas in nature, but the three of us really enjoy photography, so I can say, at least as far as I am concerned, I was just looking to take some pictures!

So here are some of my shots, I hope you will enjoy them and I hope it will make you discover how immensely gorgeous Argentina is. I can say that I really fell in love with this country and getting to know Pato was really great. I always enjoy meeting up with other board members!

So a few shots from the first day on the field. It was a short stop on our arrival in Salta, before the big day (the next one) where we would go visit one of the National Parks.











---------- Post added 01-24-2012 at 10:09 PM ----------

Next day, we left early and drove to the Calilegua National Park



This is where I hung my hammock, it was bitter cold at night and the humidity was through the roof. This is really a cloud forest and it was quite impressive.



In order to illustrate the level of humidity, a picture of Martin. The picture is not out of focus or anything, it is just the humidity!



the biodiversity was outstanding and we were not dissapointed. It was well worth the minor inconvenience of not too comfortable camping and horrible biting tiny flies!

I will start by the last insect I photographed at the park simply because it is my best memory of it. Yes, some of you will wonder... a fly... but anyone who know me will understand. I have a passion for photographing flies and this is simply the HOLY GRAIL of flies. We were paking and leaving and I was bringing trash to the can and suddenly my heart stopped, this gorgeous female was laying eggs on the sides of the garbage can. I ran to get my equipment, I am amazed that I managed some good shots as I was shaking in excitement. The funny thing is that the whole time we were complaining how those cans smelled so bad and there I was inside one taking pictures. I hope Pato will post the shot of me taking the pictures inside the can.



a close-up portrait, not a perfect shot, but considering the situation, my favourite of the trip and one that I am really proud of.



interesting spider



close-up



another one I like a lot from this location



more to come

---------- Post added 01-24-2012 at 10:16 PM ----------

another cool bug



a close-up, note the mite on the twig!



a couple of cool spiders







a gorgeous Deinopis sp. that Pato found on a night hike





we were well served with plenty of Nephila sp. all over!







more to come

---------- Post added 01-24-2012 at 10:22 PM ----------

some opilione



different angle



those orange ones were decently abondant, really gorgeous creatures!



close-up



fly infested millipede



another millipede



a strange looking spider





---------- Post added 01-24-2012 at 10:28 PM ----------

a few grasshoppers





random fly, unfortunate flash light fall-off, but I liked the fly and the composition





longhorn beetle, impossible to photograph well, I did not have a tripod for NL shots



a wolf spider, there were tons of them



another species



scorpions were abondant



---------- Post added 01-24-2012 at 10:39 PM ----------

found a lot of those scorpions



we were spoiled with a lot of nice mygalomorphs of the Dipluridae family









another millipede



tiny snail



mandatory UV shot!



funky spider





another great find by Pato, a velvet ant... these are incredibly hard to photograph as they never stop moving!



---------- Post added 01-24-2012 at 10:50 PM ----------

this may come as a surprise, but there were some vertebrates as well! Birds are hard to shoot in lush forests and I am not equiped for that (no telephoto). Still I managed those two:





the only reptile we have seen, it was fall, beginning of winter, I guess that could explain the lack of reptilian presence



and these tiny frogs were a treat!







a cluster of Nephilas, B&W on purpose

After a few days in Calilegua, it was time to move to another destination. Unfortunately, we realised that we would not be able to make it to the other park considering our lack of 4x4.

We got a suggestion from the park ranger to try our luck in the province of Formosa. After quite a long drive, we were dissapointed to learn that we would not be able to make it, again, because we did not have a 4x4. So we turned around and felt like the day had been wasted. Still, we decided to stop a few times on the road and we found some cool animals, definately saved the day!

The environment was much more arid, it is the Chaco type of habitat, Pato will correct me if I am wrong, I am sure!



I found this amazing mygalomorph



look at those spinerets!



nice buterfly, unfortunately, the picture is not that great



the guys called me because they claimed they found some amphibians. When I lifted the suggested piece of cardboard, I found this gorgeous centipede... I thought they had decided to pull a prank on me



but indeed, there were some amphibians





here is the shot of the centipede beside one of the toads



an armoured millipede



and just when we were about to call it a day, Martin spotted a ton of Latrodectus sp.









there were a lot of eggsacs and some had hatched





So we returned to Salta very exhausted, spending almost the whole day driving around.

---------- Post added 01-25-2012 at 09:56 PM ----------

oups, forgot that other shot of a different species of spider

My goodness, such gorgeous photography.. I felt like I was there myself!! What kind of camera are you using, the macro is phenomenal. Now I want to go to South America even MORE, thanks haha

Incredible photos! Thank you for sharing!

Great collection of fotos. Too bad you guys did not find any tarantula

I must visit Argentina some day myself!

Eddy

thank you all for the nice comments! Parabuthusking, I use a Canon 50D, I had 3 lenses on that trip, a regular Tamron 17-50 for general purpose pictures, the Canon EF 100mmL macro and my trustworthy Canon MP-E 65mm for more extreme macro.

Eddy... he he, we did find some Ts, although we had no particular expectations. Originally, we ere keep the pictures for an article we would work on, but we have been very lazy. And since then, now Pato is working on a more ambitious project on Argentinian tarantulas, so out of respect for that, currently, I will not post any pictures of the Ts. But if I go to Marbach, I will bring them with me for sure.

Martin

Bravo! What a fanastic array of things most of us will never get to see. I keep going back to the centipede as there are features that remind be of both S. angulata & galapagoensis. Your camp shots remind me of fall camping on the Olympic Peninsula nearby.

Amazing photographs! You have inspired me to buy a camera.

~Dano

Many great photo's

Thank you for sharing!

Wade

I like the hammock. great pics!
Later, Tom

Thank you Wade, Tom and Dano...

So after coming back in the Salta area, we were a bit out of ideas, because our lack of 4x4 prevented us to reach any of the places we wanted to visit. You may ask why in the world we did not just rent a 4x4, it was a question of budget. The rental of 4x4 in the Salta province is just ridiculously expensive. Although if I am to go back, I will definately invest in one!

Anyhow, we decide to go and visit Los Cardones Park, it is a reserve created to protect the cacti. Local population used to cut them for their use, but the growth rate is insanely slow.

That is what is nice when you expect nothing on these trips because everything can become a surprise. It turned out to be not interesting for tarantulas, but scenic wise, it was breathtaking. It is one of my fondest memories of the trip.

On our departure, we looked around where we slept and found that gorgeous rove bettle, it was very hard to photograph, it kept moving all the time



So were left and started going up in altitude and the humid forest made room for a more arid habitat



The vistas were just amazing



Finally made it to Los Cardones, it was about 3500m altitude!



We were surprised to find quite a few bugs up there!





beautiful little beetle



this spider was my frustration, it keep moving and I was never able to get a good shot, bit it was gorgeous. My patience was slim as we were burned to crisp and I was sun stroked



This place was simply surreal. The pictures do not do it justice, but it felt like another planet. At one point, a cloud passed through us, it was amazing. We really wanted to camp there for the night, but there were instructions that it was forbiden







I was thrilled when Pato shouted that he had found frogs in the pond. That was really unexpected!





the pond was full of tadpoles



it was hard to do some macro as the sun was very bright!

So, the day was going by, and we had no idea where we would camp. So we decided to continue on and hopefully make it to Cachi. We were also wondering where the cacti were?

We got to la Recta Tin-Tin, a very staight road up on the plateau



and there they were





the environment was brutal, the harshest place I have been so far, this picture of Martin illustrate a little what it was like!



let it be known that I actually found a solifugid there, my first ever in the wild... and since I am an idiot, I apparently squished it before I noticed it... that, I can say, is my greatest dissapointment of the trip.

We continued to the next little town and we found the park ranger, confirmed with her that we could not camp at the previous site, but she said that anywhere outside the park was fine. We turned around and decided to camp on the Recta Tin-Tin as we thought it could be cool to go out at night. We asked permission to camp where there was the only patch of grass around, the roughest grass I ever touched. The real reason is that there was standing the only closest thing to a tree for miles. I needed to hang my hammock somewhere!

That was the view there





The night was brutally cold, but it was well worth it. One of the most amazing places I have been. The night sky was unbelievable. This is where I hung my hammock. Not that the trees are covered in spines of about 3", everytime I would have to get out, I would get riped by those spines!



So, once we were all set and thought it would be really quiet, we had some unexpected visitors! :sarcasm:



the encounter!



now we knew why there was grass there and felt a little stupid. But the goats left after a while.

---------- Post added 01-27-2012 at 11:17 PM ----------

that night we got out to look for bugs. It was really cold and windy. We did not see much. I know Pato got a shot of of a fox. But for me it was worth it just for that shot.

This awesome fly was sleeping on a cactus spike. It was quite tricky to get the shot as I had to lean on Pato and Martin for my balance, it was quite high on the cactus and I did not want to lean on the cactus!



A dissapointing close-up of the amazing eye, but that is as good as I could do in these conditions.



The next morning we started heading back, we found a scorpion, very agressive!



And a few other nice things lower down the mountains













and I finished the trip with some shots of a nice Dolichopididae species. This was a treat, as they are among my favourite flies!





Well, that's it folks. I hope you have enjoyed my little resume of the trip. Hopefully Pato will come and add his pictures, he is away at the moment. I am not sure if Martin is a member here, hopefully he will join as well!

Those pics are mindblowing. Glad you got to experience something that amazing. Thanks for sharing.

thank you Catfish, much appreciated!

Awesome finds! Definitely love the Latrodectus sp.

All I can say is WOW!

Hi guys

I will definitely post some of my pictures here

regards
Martin

thank you everyone for looking and commenting.

Martin, glad you are here... 5 posts since 2008, you are on fire! he he

Martin

haha that is pretty funny.

tarcan said:

thank you everyone for looking and commenting.

Martin, glad you are here... 5 posts since 2008, you are on fire! he he

Martin

Click to expand...

thank you everyone for looking and commenting.

Martin, glad you are here... 5 posts since 2008, you are on fire! he he

Click to expand...

I don't have much to say

Amazing photos! Thanks for sharing.