Winter Newsletter January 2020

Looking back to 2010, we had just moved into our new offices in Waddesdon, Jill (who now works happily for Belmond) had just returned from Colombia, while Sue had been in Peru (hiking in the Cordillera Blanca) and Brazil (the pretty colonial towns of Minas Gerais). Lizzy had also visited Brazil (the beaches and historic towns of the north-eastern coast) and Ed Miles (now based in Perth with his young family) had just got back from Chile’s Carretera Austral. Ali had loved her first visit to Paraguay (still worth including on a trip to southern Brazil or northern Argentina, particularly the Jesuit missions). We had found several charming new hotels to suggest to our clients, many of which we still work with 10 years later.

www.lastfrontiers.com/articles/view/last-frontiers-newsletter-number-14-december-2009

I had just got back from a trip to the Argentine and Chilean Lake District, including a side trip to see the southern right whales off the Valdes peninsula. Exactly 10 years later, I have just returned from the same area, this time checking possible viewing sites for the December 2020 total solar eclipse for one of our Oxbridge groups. My side trip (to try and convince my wife Fiona that it was not all work) was 3 days riding and fishing, lovely.

Up-to-date knowledge and personal experience of places are still as important to us as ever. Our latest reconnaissance trips since the last newsletter have included:

Lizzy returned to Chile in September for a comprehensive visit which included the Atacama desert, the wine country around Santiago, and Torres del Paine National Park in the far south. She loved spending time in these areas out of season and did some wonderful hikes in Torres del Paine. Her trip also included a few days in Easter Island, a mere 5 hour flight west from Santiago. She was fascinated by the stories she heard, and inspired to write a brief history for our website. Read it here:

www.lastfrontiers.com/articles/view/a-brief-history-of-easter-island-lizzy-september-2019

Emily spent 3 weeks in Ecuador, travelling down the 'avenue of the volcanoes' with our local partner Marco Toscano (we have been working with Marco for 20 years now and the feedback we receive is always wonderful - nothing is too much trouble). She then flew to the Galapagos for her very first visit. In the following article she describes her experiences, while trying to give a flavour of a typical week on the enchanted islands:

www.lastfrontiers.com/articles/view/galapagos-cruise-a-typical-week-emily-september-2019

Sue has always wanted to ride in the Brazilian Pantanal, and finally got her chance. She saw plenty of wildlife (including macaws, capybaras, caiman, armadillos and anteaters) and finished off her trip with a memorable sighting of a jaguar. In her trip report she rounds up the best riding options in Latin America, and describes her Pantanal ride with a small group, which included a night in a hammock camp..

www.lastfrontiers.com/articles/view/riding-in-latin-america-and-sue-in-the-pantanal-2019

We sent journalist Will Hide on holiday to Argentina and his article on the Argentine Lake District appeared in the Mail on Sunday on 3 November 2019. The trip he did was along the lines of our 'Classic Argentina' itinerary www.lastfrontiers.com/itineraries/classic-argentina.

We were all glued to the television for the most recent Attenborough series of 'Seven Worlds, One Planet'. Lizzy compiled a selection of places the crew visited (two of the programmes covered our area: Antarctica and South America).

www.lastfrontiers.com/articles/view/seven-worlds-one-planet-bbc1-where-was-it-filmed

And an important anniversary: 500 years ago Ferdinand Magellan was in Latin America. Nikki has retraced his footsteps in this interesting article on our website:

www.lastfrontiers.com/articles/view/strait-of-magellan-history

We will have a stand (AC52) at the Destinations Travel Show (Kensington Olympia, Thursday 30 January - Sunday 2 February). On the Friday Emily will be giving a talk on the Galapagos Islands at 11:45am. As ever we have a supply of free tickets and if you would like one please let us know.

We have just produced a lovely bookmark, with images taken by both staff and clients. We'll have a supply at our stand, or see the story here:

www.lastfrontiers.com/articles/view/behind-the-bookmark