I left chilly Puerto Madryn for FREEZING, three-degree Celsius Ushuaia this morning.

The two-hour plane ride passed quickly as I spent the flight staring out the window looking for the Strait of Magellan and the Beagle Channel.

Although I couldn’t tell the difference between those two bodies of water and all the other wide rivers cutting through the mountains, I got into town just in time to hop on a catamaran and sail the Beagle Channel; this channel divides Chile from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Luckily, there was an indoor cabin with the heaters turned on and a full bar that served the most delicious hot chocolates.

The port from which the ship sailed was a short four blocks from our centrally-located hotel. Ushuaia is a big city, but everything a tourist needs is within walking distance from any hotel. It’s perfect.

The ship left the port in the afternoon, just as the near-setting sun illuminated the mountain-covering clouds with an amazing pink/red color.

The two and half hour boat ride made its first stop at a small island where hundreds of cormorants called home.

The next island was my absolute favorite. It was littered with sea lions who were ready to play as soon as the ship got near the island.

We were about 30 yards away from that island when several sea lions perked their adorable little heads with tiny little ears up and dove into the water. It was a wave of sea lions as we sailed towards them and they swam towards us, almost in unison, diving in and out of the water. Once they caught up, they put on a very enjoyable show as the jumped the waves the ship created, popped their heads out of the water to look at us, stick their tales out of the water and wave at us, flip around and even demonstrate their impressive speed as they swam alongside the ship.

The final stop of the trip was an island decorated with a beautiful red and white lighthouse, Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse.

What an amazing boat ride!

For more from Agustina Prigoshin, read her blog at www.agustinaprigoshin.com

FOR ADVENTURES IN CHILE, CLICK HERE

I left Buenos Aires at 3 a.m. this morning, arriving in Trelew well before sunrise. I slept through the entire hour and a half flight and missed the pilot’s weather announcement, so you can imagine my shock when I stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac into the biting, 30-degree Farenheit air. It literally took my breath away.

The drive to the hotel wasn’t very sightly, one very long meadow until Puerto Medryn. The sun started peaking out over the meadow around 7:30 a.m. with an effect that made the horizon look like it was on fire. I came to learn that in the winter, the sun rises at 9 a.m. and sets at 6 p.m.

After a much needed nap, we drove to Puerto Piramides, about a two hour car ride, and stopped at two beaches along the way to watch the whales come very close to the shore.

Today was the start of whale season. The whales that spend the year swimming the frigid waters of Antarctica come into the bay at Puerto Piramides to mate; a year later the whales come back to give birth and by the third years’ trip, they return with their young to release them into the wild.

After a delicious lunch of milanesa, we geared up with some very bulky and annoying life jackets and jumped onto a small boat, ready to venture out into the bay and get up-close and personal with the arriving whales. Mind you, even with my arctic gear of tights, thermal socks, ski pants, tank top, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, thermal shirt, ski jacket and sneakers, it was still pretty chilly.

During our aquatic search for the whales, we met Cormorants (penguin look-alikes that fly and are able to dive up to 240 feet below the waters’ surface), sea lions and seals.

Just when we were beginning to think that a whale encounter wouldn’t happen, we spotted them! A mother Southern Right Whale and her baby. We all bonded and the whales put on a spectacular show of acrobatics as the baby rolled over several times to show us its belly.

It truly was an unforgettable experience.

For more from Agustina Prigoshin, read her blog at www.agustinaprigoshin.com

FOR ADVENTURES IN CHILE, CLICK HERE

Papua New Guinea is as Back of Beyond as one can travel. Ice capped volcanoes rise from steamy equatorial jungles populated by Stone Age tribes.

ArcticTropic links to 3 adventure travel destinations in Papua New Guinea. CLICK HERE.

The Philippines have a lot to offer beyond the beach resorts developed for Hong Kong tourists. Just 2 hours out of Hong Kong one can be in the most remote volcanic mountain jungles, with primitive tribesmen and unihabited islands with beaches accessible only by sailboat.

FOR ADVENTURES IN THE PHILINES, CLICK HERE

Nigeria, the most populous contry in Africa, offers Argungu International Fishing Festival, Oshun Oshogbo Festival, Sallah Durbar, Iri-Ji festival, Cross River Christmas festival. Our packages take tourists to Obudu Cattle Ranch, Drill Monkey Ranch, Tinapa, Idanre Hills, Abeokuta, Oshun Grooves, Jos, Yankari National Park, Kano, Kaduna, Nok, Kafanchan, Kagoro, Lokoja, Calabar, Ijebu Ode, Ife, Akure, Port Harcourt, Lagos, Gurara Falls, Assop falls, Riyom Rocks, Kurra falls, Slave Trade Museum, Badagry, etc. Special opportunities are available to see Nok Terra Cotta, the Rocks of Jos, Sukur World Heritage Site, Bilikisu Sunbo Shrine, Long Juju of Arochukwu, Kofa Mata Dyeing Pits, Gidan Makama, Old Kano City Walls, Emir’s Palace Zazzau, Emir’s Palace Kano, numerous endangered monkey species of equatorial tropical forests, Slave Relics at Badagry, Museums in Lagos, Kaduna, and Calabar !

About 2 hours after leaving Palmas, the capital of Tocantins State, the paved road ended. We had a delicious lunch in Ponte Alta, where the dirt roads begin. Brazilian food is heavy – meat, rice, beans, bread, potatoes, farofa, at almost every meal.

After lunch we took a short walk through the town .

About 20 minutes out of town, we were driving through baking hot scrubland. The temperature was about 42 C, 108 F. Although this is “winter” south of the equator, it is the hot dry season. When the rains come in “summer” – December and January the temperature might only get to 33 C, or about 91 F. There is no humidity – so 100 degrees is like 80 in Miami or New York – quite comfortable. By night the temperature drops to the 50s – and to near freezing in June and July.

As we went thought the scrubland there was little shade, the fields were motionless in the heat. At that point we stopped and walked into a field and we could hear water rushing. We walked down a hill and noticed a small crevice. As we followed it the divide became wider and we then climbed down into an underground river. The temperature was at least 30 degrees cooler 25 C or 77 F and there were refreshing waterfalls everywhere.

Back on the Korubo truck we headed out into an absolute wilderness. No towns, or even houses for hundreds of kilometers. The land is flat and sandy, broken by mesas and buttes. Fires race across the land, consuming the thin cover of grass and brush.

At sundown (6 PM) we arrived at Korubo Safari Camp.

Here is a quick tour of the camp. Korubo is completely eco friendly. The Rio Novo is perfectly clean due to no human or cattle habitation in the surrounding terrain.

Water from the river is used for cleaning, cooking and drinking. You can drink directly form the river. There are no plastic water bottles here, unless they are being recycled.

There are fixed tents that never need to be taken down, due to the consistency of the weather.

The shower water is heated by fire, allowing to hot water at the end of each day. Toilets are similar to those on a boat – all waste is dried (far from the camp) and taken to an incinerator in Palmas.

Food is tasty and plentiful. Beer and caiprinhas are served with dinner. Nighttime activity can be gazing at the Southern Hemisphere stars or reading in the tent under a solar powered lamp.

All power in the camp is solar – I even charged my laptop from a solar generator. Korubo may be rustic , but it is run with professional perfection. Check out their website HERE.

By the way , you can avoid 8 hour drive by flying to a nearby airstrip – but that would take away a lot of adventure.

FOR ADVENTURES IN BRAZIL, CLICK HERE

Arctic Greenland, a Danish Colony independently known as Kalaallit Nunaat is also becoming expensively accessible.

A tiny sliver of a country connected to the rest of the world via Senegal, and flights from London. The footage looks remarkably like the ArcticTropic footage from the coast of Orissa, India. We have 2 beach destinations in Gambia right now.

Gabon is quickly becoming a new frontier for African Safaris. The Loango Region is spectacular – with jungle wildlife along the pristine Atlantic Coast. There are daily flights from Paris. ArcticTropic has three links to Gambian destinations right now.

Modern Finland makes the most of Nature ! ArcticTropic has four locations in Finland right now.