I have received a number of sharp email nudges from readers who wondered why I left everyone suspended mid-journey on my recent Patagonia trip. Not the first time I have done this I know, but in this instance returning from Argentina and right into the midst of the holiday scramble, my journal writing priorities were turned on their heads. So let me close out the trip and the year as we all launch ourselves into 2025.

When last heard from we had completed a 4 day stint in an eco-camp in La Posta de Los Toldos in the ReWilding Argentina nature reserve. After another long day’s 12 hour drive we reached our destination for our last four days on the road, Los Alerces National Park. As an aside and since I’m writing this well after the fact, when I returned to Toronto Hugh emailed us to let us know that we covered 3700 kilometres of driving on our trip…didn’t come as as even a slight surprise…

It’s been a long time since my last post, not for the want of trying however. From Lagos del Furioso onwards we have been in the mountains at eco lodges where wifi has been sporadic at best and laundry non-existent. I’m writing this in haste in a cafe in a little town on the way to the airport for our flight to Buenos Aires, wifi still not the best so hope this post is in reasonable shape when I upload it.

Rather than a blow-by-blow description of the last 10 days I’ll pick a couple of highlights and let the images speak for themselves…

Sunday, November 24 - Long day’s drive today, longest of our trip, approximately 800k’s. Left Islas Leones at about 7:30 and arrived in Lagos del Furiosas at about 19:30, straight run of 12 hours with brief pit stops for gas and bio breaks, snacking in the car as we drove. A mix of tarmac and dirt highways, so on balance we made very good time, original ETA was between 20:00 and 20:30.

Fascinating changes of landscape as we drove from the Atlantic coast to the foot of the Andes, flat coastal plains turning into rolling hills, back to a flat dry plateau and then into hilly country leading up to the mountains. Only characteristic shared by all terrains was dry, low shrubby ground cover…

Saturday, November 23 - Yesterday we drove from the little fishing town of Camarones where we saw the whales and seals, to our present location, Isla Leones eco-camp. Our very new camp, I’ll explain that in a minute, consists of 6 small huts about 30 metres above high water mark on the beach. The only power is provided by solar panels so each hut, like a very clean and comfortable monk’s cell has one small bedside reading lamp, a pair of single beds and no heating. The wind blows ceaselessly and at this time of year the temperature is in the mid-teens C during the day so not warm when the sun goes down or indeed behind a cloud, but I can attest to the fact that the duvet is very warm and my night’s sleep was most pleasant despite the lack of heating…

Another long drive yesterday from our parrot beach location to a little fishing village, Camarones, 8 hour’s drive south. We are here for two nights and today we were out in boat seeking out marine animal and bird life. Spectacular day, high blue sky with the ever-present ocean wind taking the heat out of the air. The sea was turquoise and as flat as it ever gets, no white caps but a pleasant little swell, a fabulous day to be out on the water. Coated ourselves with sunblock and headed out in a 16 foot RIB, with two 115hp Yamaha outboards. There were 5 of us aboard, the boat captain, Leo, , a helper/guide and the three of us.

Some spectacular sightings…

Arrived in BA on Saturday Nov 16. Met up with Robert, shared dinner and then I collapsed in bed at 9:30, having had very little sleep the previous couple of nights, Toby and then an overnight flight. Awake at 9am and although a solid 11+ hours of sleep, still not feeling very rested.

I always love coming to BA, a city I really enjoy, but there was steady drizzle all day so R and I passed the afternoon away chatting in the coffee shop awaiting our pickup from Hugh, the owner of MacDermott’s Argentina. Hugh has prepared trips for me/us in the past, most recently in 2023, when he organized the trip that R and I took to Chile when we drove the Carretera Austral. I cannot recommend Hugh and his company highly enough. He is a very interesting man, has lived a truly adventurous life….

How to describe two and a half weeks in the Serengeti and in Zambia? Not easily done.

Why did I wait so long to file dispatches? We were off the grid for virtually all of that time and although we were nominally able to access wifi at intervals during that period, the signal was so fragile and we were so tired from our expeditions that mustering the patience to deal with a ragged wifi connection required more than we could manage. Hence my reporting dilemma. So, rather than a documentary, I’ll try to capture some, a very few, of the many bright spots that immediately rise to the top of the memory heap…

As has become depressingly normal, we now begin a new travel adventure without having competed documenting the last one. When last heard from we were leaving our ship in Hokkaido and on our way to a week in Tokyo, which turned out to be the highlight of our trip. In fact, we enjoyed Tokyo so well that we are planning to go back next year. We had added it on to our boat trip around Japan in a classic ‘since we’re there we might as well..’ moment but unfortunately that was as far as our thinking took us, the boat trip captured the majority of our attention. Fortunately we had sufficient forethought to make a hotel booking but our, or at least V’s, normal research and planning for our week’s Tokyo sojourn was conspicuous by its absence. Nonetheless we had a fabulous time and unhindered as we were by any commitments, with the exception of a couple of restaurant reservations, we wandered, discovered and thoroughly enjoyed…