Cape Horn- Lotus UK travels to the end of the world and back

Very few media trips ever involve both sunny 30 degree temperatures and freezing glacial landscapes but on a recent trip to South America Amelia from Lotus UK and five journalists experienced just that.

Here’s a quick report:

Hosted by Chilean expedition cruise line Australis, we spent four days sailing nearly 400 kilometres south of the southernmost city in South America to the notorious Cape Horn. The Horn is only accessible on Australis ships with just 12,000 people landing on its rocky shores each year, which made it an incredible once in a lifetime experience.

Over the four days, there were daily on-shore excursions, which ranged from exploring enormous creaking and groaning glaciers to walking through landscapes that are rarely touched by man. Up on deck, the group admired the panoramic views surrounding them with snow-capped mountains, glacial valleys and vast expanses of water. Of course, eyes were kept peeled for sightings of whales, dolphins, seals and condors. Back in the warmth of the ship, stories were told of shipwrecks around Cape Horn and famous explorers such as Darwin and Shackleton whose footsteps we were following.

On every trip there is no guarantee of landing on Cape Horn due to the strong currents and temperamental weather at this meeting point of the Atlantic and Pacific. Luckily, our group was met with blue skies on the morning of our Cape Horn disembarkment and we spent a couple of very enjoyable hours on the southernmost land mass in the world (before Antarctica).

To break up the long journey down to Cape Horn, the group spent a day in Santiago on the outbound and three days in Buenos Aires on the return, taking in the sights and sounds of these beautiful South American capital cities.

The trip was only nine days long but we went from battling strong winds on Cape Horn, to enjoying Tango in Buenos Aires, Pisco Sours in Santiago and penguin colonies on the rocky islands of the Tierra del Fuego- a true adventure!

Many thanks to Martin Fletcher from The Times, Maxine Briggs from You & Your Wedding Magazine, James Fielding from the Daily Express, Paul Rushton from Psychologies and Teresa Machan from Telegraph Cruise who all helped make the trip such a success!