Patagonia 1 week tour, glaciers and estancias

Planet

On this trip, while we are in Ushuaia we make excursions in small groups which allows a more authentic, personalized experience. The guides are local, specialized in nature and outdoor activities.

This trip allows you to connect with nature and rural Patagonian Culture. We avoid massive groups with visits to super touristy places, that's why we prefer small groups with certified local guides that focus on environmental education, sensitizing travelers about the importance of the environment, bio-diversity, and our local flora and fauna. Our local partners are registered and are members of adventure tourism associations.

On the second day of the tour, we first go to the lakes and the small town of Tolhuin and from there we go to Cabo San Pablo, a little-known place on the island of Tierra del Fuego from where you can see the open sea. We take a walk along the beach while the guide explains to the visitors the importance of keeping an eye on the protection of visited places and associated biodiversity. At the same time, we do not take plastic stuff for the meals on this excursion.

In addition, the selected accommodations for both destinations are run by local companies, most of them familiar and including environmental management practices.


In Calafate we offer excursions in small groups, trying to avoid the most touristy parts of the National Park. The tour guide explains to the travelers the importance of glaciers and the consequences of bad tourism practices.
We avoid the use of plastic for the meals on this tour. All travelers pay the entrance fees to the National Park, collaborating with investigation and conservation programs.

Our environmental impact in our offices is low, so we focus more on the value chain. Anyway, in the office, we do waste separation and always try to reduce and reuse whenever possible.

Selection of our suppliers:
In order to ensure sustainability and consistency with our work philosophy, we always look for sustainable tourism providers that meet any of the following requirements:
- Be distinguished by quality and/or sustainability programs/seals
- Be recognized locally for their good environmental and social practices.
- We prioritize local ventures and, if possible, attended by their owners.
- In the case of accommodation, we work with hotels certified for their environmental management whenever we can.
- We also encourage our allies to improve and continue implementing environmentally responsible practices, especially those related to water, energy, and waste.
- In the more traditional destinations, we seek to offer a different travel experience, with small group excursions, certified local guides, and alternative proposals that complement the most tourist sites.

Responsible practices with the environment
- Walking and public transport tours
- Visit natural areas where we work on environmental awareness and the importance of biodiversity.
- We contribute monthly with the Argentine Wildlife Foundation (a member of WFF)
- We deliver a recycled leather envelope to our customers to carry their documentation. The Vacavaliente company is a certified B company that buys the remains of leather from tanneries (preventing them from being waste) and transforms them into design products through reuse techniques.
- As part of our paperless policy, we stopped printing long-road books and change them for digital brochures for our clients.

People

On this trip, we hire local certified guides who know their environments best. We include visits to local communities and estancias. These are off-the-road places, where the tourists do not frequently go and so our support is crucial to them. We support them not only by hiring their services, but also by creating a cultural exchange, having lunch for example, or buying them provisions.

We also recommend our travelers to visit social projects, for example, some of our clients have visited Camino Abierto, a soup kitchen located in a rural area that also offers training to the children: organic farming, local food preparation, harvest, farm, etc.

Some of the accommodation is in family houses (private rooms), which allows a more meaningful cultural exchange, while we support the local development.