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Land and Sea Tour to Patagonia

Harvard Museum of Natural History

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is leading an expedition to Patagonia that combines a four night cruise aboard the new expedition ship M/V Mare Australis with some of Chile and Argentina’s most spectacular natural wonders. The tour, a land and sea program named Patagonia Spectacular, will run from January 8-22, 2004, during the Southern Hemisphere’s summer. Boasting an awesome geology of pampas, lakes, mountains and glaciers, abundant wildlife and a wealth of fossils from prehistoric creatures to ancient humans, the vibrant natural history of Patagonia has intrigued scientists and beckoned explorers for generations.

The 15-day expedition will be led by Karel Liem, an ichthyology professor at Harvard University and curator of ichthyology at the Museum of Comparative Zoology and a popular lecturer on a wide variety of natural history topics. Following a flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas, the group will board the Mare Australis to sail through the legendary Strait of Magellan, the Beagle Channel, and the fjords of Tierra del Fuego to Ushasia. Tour members will have the opportunity to look for Magellanic Penguin colonies and the six types of seal and sea lions that inhabit this region on various Zodiac excursions to the shoreline. From Ushasia, the group will venture inland to El Calafate to explore Glacier National Park declared by UNESCO as part of the Natural Heritage of Humanity and to marvel at the massive glacier, Perito Moreno. The group then traverses the Andes into Chilean Patagonia to spend three nights at the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Torres del Paine National Park set amid monolithic granite spires, azure colored lakes and glaciers. Here condors ride on currents above the Andes and fox, rhea and guanacos give chase in the windswept pampas.

The price of the tour is $6,875 per person, and includes double occupancy accommodations, flights within Chile and Argentina, most meals, entrances fee and guide services, a tour manager and $50,000 of emergency medical aid and evacuation insurance. Round-trip international airfare to and from Santiago, Chile is additional. The tour is open to the general public and travelers can become members of the museum. The museum’s household membership fee is $50.

For reservations or further information call the Harvard Museum of Natural History at tel. (617) 495-2463 or e-mail them at hmnhtravel@oeb.harvard.edu or call Royal Adventures at (800) 453-4754

Edited by Dave Shultz

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