Tierra del Fuego

Pre-Arrival: Buenos Aires

Dependent upon your travel plans and budget, we recommend arriving a few days early and spending two nights in Buenos Aires to explore this vibrant city and recover from jet lag.

Day 1: Arrival

You’ll catch a morning flight to Rio Grande today where you’ll be met by your cheeful hosts. First stop on the drive to base camp is Estancia María Behety, one of the pioneering sheep farms in the region, with the biggest shearing shed in the world. You’ll truly kick off the day here with a hearty breakfast. Afterwards, you’ll continue on to Estancia San José (you’ll spend the first two nights here), where you’ll be shown to your rooms and given a chance to settle in before lunch at the shearing shed. It’s an Argentine institution to have a siesta every day after lunch!

The afternoon ride is comparatively short, but it’s your first opportunity to get a feel for your horse and gaucho-style saddle. You’ll head out in the evening light, connecting to your horse and becoming oriented within the extensive steppe.

This delightful first day will come to an end with drinks and dinner back in the shearing shed.

Day 2: Rio Grande

The mornings here are so beautiful that it’s worth getting up early. Breakfast is ready at 7am, but you won’t get the wake-up call until 8am. Normally, you’ll aim to start riding at 9am, but a fair bit of preparation is needed, and as you’ll see, packing saddle bags, pack horses, rolling ponchos and fastening them onto saddles all take longer on the first day.

Once everything is ready and you’re all mounted up, it’s a casual three-hour ride across the pampas to enjoy lunch on the edge of the Rio Grande. For those who are avid anglers, this river is host to some of the largest sea run trout in the world, so it’s an excellent opportunity to try your hand at fly fishing! Your hosts will provide rods and all fishing equipment (waders, boots, jackets, etc.), but it’s important that previous notice of your fishing intentions is made ahead of time, as licenses and a guide will be required (this is an additional expense).

For those who simply want to bask in the beauty of their surroundings, you’ll have a picnic lunch and a siesta on the banks of the river.

This afternoon’s ride back to the estancia provides opportunities for faster riding, stopping for a whiskey along the way at the historic trenches dug during the Beagle conflict of 1978 – a border conflict between Chile and Argentina that was eventually settled by the Pope.

Tonight you’ll enjoy dinner and drinks back at the estancia.

Day 3: Estancia Rio Apen

You’re on the move today, globetrotters, so you can expect a much longer ride covering about 35miles/56km, which will take about ten hours. But there’s a good change of pace, with plenty of opportunities to canter across a variety of scenery as you ride from the steppe into the mountains.

During breakfast, you will be given saddlebags in which to pack your picnic lunch, snacks and other essentials in for the day.

Lunch will be at a beautiful spot on Río Menendez and, after a siesta, you will continue your way to Estancia Río Apen. Your accommodation here will be in caravans with double beds and sleeping bags. There is a cabin with a fireplace, where dinner will be served.

Day 4: El Boquerón

Today, the horses that you have been riding so far will return to Estancia San José for a well-earned rest. You will be paired up with new horses brought from Estancia El Boquerón, where you will be riding to today. The estancia is a beautiful, yellow house set in the heart of the island, and is also owned by Ini Menendez Behety, who owns the iconic Estancia María Behety that you visited on your arrival day. It’s an easy three-hour ride to El Boquerón, where you will dismount for lunch.

In the afternoon, you can go riding or walking if you would like to stretch your legs. The evening will be spent in talking, laughing and feasting in the yellow house at Estancia El Boquerón.

Day 5: Puesto República

Today you will explore the most remote location of this ride – you’re heading into the wilderness! Leaving your luggage behind, you’ll take in your saddle bags whatever you need for one night’s camping. There is no vehicle access to the area you are visiting, so all supplies will be packed in on horseback. You will ride for about four hours in the morning, then stop for a picnic lunch before continuing on for another couple of hours until you reach Puesto República.

El República is a very remote, simple shelter, built as a shepherd’s camp. Here you will sleep in dome tents big enough to stand in, on cot beds with mattresses and sleeping bags. Dinner will be cooked on an open fire under the stars.

Day 6: The Summit

This is the day that you ride up the highest peak of your ‘end of the world’ ride. Thrilling, albeit challenging, the scenery is breathtaking and provides the most extraordinary view of the whole trip. You will picnic at this epic location and, in the afternoon, ride back to El Boquerón to enjoy a good shower, a cosy bed and meet up with your luggage again.

Day 7: Cerro Pelado

Your last day in the saddle (boo!) sees you take a morning ride up to the ‘Cerro Pelado’ before returning to El Boquerón for lunch. Afterwards, you will say goodbye to the gauchos and guides, before your off-road experience in a 4×4 towards Estancia Viamonte begins. Estancia Viamonte was founded in 1902 by Lucas Bridges, author of ‘Uttermost Part of the Earth’ and one of the British pioneers to populate Tierra del Fuego amongst its indigenous people.

Tonight you’ll share a farewell dinner with your fellow globetrotters and sleep soundly at the ‘end of the world’.

Day 8: Departure

After breakfast, you will be driven two hours to Ushuaia Airport to begin your journey home.

Additional Activities:

Fly fishing for trout is an optional additional activity at lunchtime on day 2 of the ride. For this, your hosts need prior notice since the licenses, rods and a guide might need to be organised. This will have an additional cost.