The Tourist Trail takes place on the site of the world’s largest Magellanic penguin colony and, though the book is fiction, the colony is very much real.
It is located on the coast of Punta Tombo, Argentina. And this coastal region has long been heavily fished, which means penguins have for decades been caught up in nets and longlines, a tragic fate.
I’m thrilled to find out (via Dee Boersma) that the waters off the coast are now protected as a designed Biosphere Reserve, officially called the The Patagonia Azul biosphere reserve.
To learn more and to help support ongoing efforts to protect penguins, visit Penguin Sentinels.