From the elusive puma to staggering peaks: Photographer captures the magic of Patagonia in a set of stunning images

Travel



Slide 1 of 10: Finnish photographer Konsta Punkka flew 8,000 miles to Patagonia from his home country to snap the elusive puma – and luckily, the creature played ball. It showed up seven days into his 10-day expedition and he took some magical pictures of it, as well as some stunning images of the area's epic peaks and resident guanacos (a relative of the llama, pictured). Click through to see the stunning snaps...
Slide 2 of 10: One of Konsta's shots of the elusive puma in Patagonia. It took him seven days to spot one of the creatures. He said: 'When we finally found the pumas it was an incredible moment. We spent an afternoon and an evening following them from a safe distance. After so many hours of looking for them, there they finally were and I couldn't believe it.'
Slide 3 of 10: Konsta captured this close-up image after stationing himself close to bushes that were supposed to be the puma's midday resting area. He says this shot is one of the highlights of his career so far.
Slide 4 of 10: As well as snapping images of the pumas, Konsta captured stunning photos of Patagonia's epic peaks and resident guanacos.

Slide 5 of 10: The professional photographer, who has 1.3million followers on Instagram, said: 'It's definitely different to photograph the wildlife in Chile than the wildlife I am used to here in Finland. We managed to get a beautiful mix of images of the landscape and other wildlife there such as the guanacos (pictured), which you can find all around Torres del Paine National Park.'
Slide 6 of 10: A group of guanacos stand in the shadows of the Cordillera Paine group of mountains. The highest peak is 9,462ft (2,884m) tall.
Slide 7 of 10: Konsta, 26, travelled to the Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia as part of a documentary-making team for Finnish TV.
Slide 8 of 10: Guanacos, pictured, are a species native to South America and are closely related to the llama. Konsta says you can spot them all over Torres del Paine National Park and that pumas hunt them.
Slide 9 of 10: Thanks to help from local rangers, Konsta was able to venture into parts of Torres del Paine National Park that are usually off-limits.

Slide 10 of 10: Konsta said: 'The Torres del Paine landscape has it all. From glaciers to mountain ranges and green forests'.
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