The Boers of Patagonia | 125 Years Later

The main journey, day by day

Wednesday 31 March – Thursday 8 April 2027 · 9 days / 8 nights. Breakfast is included every day; the restaurants and tea houses below are part of the programme, booked by us and paid for at the table.

1. Day 1 · Wednesday 31 March

   Arrival in Buenos Aires

   Your private transfer meets you at Ezeiza and brings you to our hotel in the heart of the city. The afternoon is free to rest. In the evening we gather for a welcome reception and, over a glass of Argentine wine, set out the history we have come to follow — with a short film made together with the community in Chubut.

   Cyan Américas Towers, Libertad 1070 — central, within walking distance of the Teatro Colón and the edge of Recoleta.

2. Day 2 · Thursday 1 April

   Historic Buenos Aires and tango

   A relaxed private tour: Plaza de Mayo, the cobbled streets of San Telmo, the painted houses of La Boca. Buenos Aires was the Boers' first port of call as well — the families landed here from the Cape before continuing south aboard the naval transport 1° de Mayo to Chubut. In the evening, an Argentine asado with an intimate tango show.

   

   Cyan Américas Towers

3. Day 3 · Friday 2 April

   South to Comodoro Rivadavia, and the first plaque

   An early morning flight (07:15, hotel departure around five) brings us to Comodoro before ten, and buys us a whole afternoon on the coast where the story begins. We drive the short distance to Rada Tilly to visit the monument De Sudáfrica a la Patagonia. Its engraved plaques carry the names of the first Boers of Patagonia — the families of 1902 and 1903. For most travellers it is the moment the history stops being a story and becomes a list of surnames — some of which will be their own.

   

   Austral Hotel, Moreno 725, Comodoro Rivadavia — comfortable and central, a short walk from the seafront, with its own restaurant. Our base for four nights.

4. Day 4 · Saturday 3 April

   A day with the Boers of Patagonia

   The whole day is given to the descendants of the pioneer families. We spend it with them, at their gathering places, and in Comodoro's historic neighbourhoods and the old Astra oil camp. Family photographs, documents and objects kept across five generations, and the stories that go with them. A shared table — melktert, koeksisters, food that has survived an ocean and a century. In the course of the day we also visit the National Petroleum Museum at Pozo Nº 2: it was the settlers' search for water that first brought drilling here, and in 1907 the drills found oil instead.

   What happens on this day depends on the families we meet, not on us. That is deliberate, and it is the reason the day works.

   Austral Hotel

5. Day 5 · Sunday 4 April

   The anniversary celebration

   The morning begins with a bilingual commemorative service at the Iglesia Reformada of Comodoro Rivadavia — the congregation the Boer settlers formally instituted in 1912. In the afternoon we hope to attend the descendants' traditional anniversary gathering, which this year also marks 35 years of their association — presentations, music, and a commemorative tea. The gathering is the community's own, and we attend as their guests.

   For most people who make this journey, this is the day they came for.

   

   Austral Hotel

6. Day 6 · Monday 5 April

   Sarmiento: deep time, and Afrikaans in the afternoon

   A full day inland to Sarmiento, heart of the Boers of Patagonia's farming settlement — about 150 kilometres each way across the steppe the pioneer families crossed by ox-wagon. A long day, and we say so plainly. The fossilised trunks of the Bosque Petrificado José Ormachea, the deep blue of Lago Musters, where possible a working chacra belonging to a family of Boer descent, and in Sarmiento itself, we hope, soetkos and a conversation in Patagonian Afrikaans at Die Kleep, the koffiehuis founded by third-generation descendant Graciela Águila Hammond.

   

   Austral Hotel

7. Day 7 · Tuesday 6 April

   Route 3 north, and the Welsh valley

   About five hours north through open steppe on National Route 3. In the afternoon we turn into the green thread of the lower Chubut valley at Gaiman, where Welsh settlers arrived a generation before the Boers: red-brick chapels and a proper Welsh tea by the river. Two migrant peoples, the same generation, very different answers to the same land — it is the comparison that makes both stories legible. On to Puerto Madryn; dinner at Cantina El Náutico, a Madryn institution since 1963.

   

   Dazzler by Wyndham Puerto Madryn, Boulevard Almirante Brown 637 — on the seafront, with the beach a few steps from the door.

8. Day 8 · Wednesday 7 April

   Península Valdés

   A full day in the UNESCO World Heritage reserve, out to Punta Delgada and Caleta Valdés with a licensed local guide. The southern right whales will not be in these bays in early April — we would rather tell you that plainly than have you hope for them. What you will see are the great colonies of elephant seals and sea lions on the gravel beaches below the cliffs, Magellanic penguins, and guanaco and rhea on the steppe. In the evening, a farewell dinner for those flying home tomorrow.

   

   Dazzler by Wyndham Puerto Madryn

9. Day 9 · Thursday 8 April

   Homeward, or onward

   A private transfer to Trelew airport for the morning flight to Buenos Aires, landing just before eleven. We transfer you across the city to Ezeiza for the evening international departure, with time for a last lunch on the way. Those continuing on the extension stay on the coach.

The extension across Patagonia

Thursday 8 April – Monday 12 April 2027 · 4 further nights · only together with the main journey. For those who want to see the Andes. Instead of the airport, the road.

1. Day 9 · Thursday 8 April

   Across the steppe to the Andes

   We follow the Chubut river west on National Route 25 — Dolavon, Los Altares, Paso de Indios — as arid steppe gives way by degrees to Andean foothills. The one substantial road day of the journey, roughly 650 kilometres, and the landscape earns it. Dinner in Esquel at Don Chiquino, known for homemade pasta and its Patagonian lamb lasagna.

   Hostería El Coirón, Avenida Ameghino 1883, Esquel — a charming, spotlessly kept mountain hostería with warm staff.

2. Day 10 · Friday 9 April

   Trevelin and the Welsh mills

   A short drive into the Welsh-settled valley of Trevelin, to the Molino Harinero Nant Fach — a fully working water-driven flour mill, the mountain counterpoint to the Boer farms of the steppe. Time to explore the valley, then a traditional Welsh tea at Nain Maggie: chocolate sponge with coffee icing, and spiced Bara Brith.

   

   Hostería El Coirón

3. Day 11 · Saturday 10 April

   Through Los Alerces to Bariloche

   North on Route 40, but taken the slow way — through the heart of Los Alerces National Park. Here the dry country finally releases its hold: Valdivian forest closes in, the lakes turn glacial turquoise, and we stop to walk gently along riverbanks in some of the cleanest air anywhere.

   

   NH Bariloche Edelweiss, San Martín 202 — in the centre of Bariloche, two blocks from the lake, with an indoor pool and some lake-view rooms.

4. Day 12 · Sunday 11 April

   Bariloche

   The classic Circuito Chico around the Llao Llao peninsula, with the chairlift up Cerro Campanario for one of the most photographed lake views in South America. The afternoon is free for Bariloche's alpine streets and chocolate makers. In the evening, a farewell dinner at the lakeside Cervecería Patagonia.

   NH Bariloche Edelweiss

5. Day 13 · Monday 12 April

   Homeward

   A private transfer to Bariloche airport for the morning flight to Buenos Aires, then across the city to Ezeiza for the evening international departure. Those adding Mendoza or El Calafate fly on from Bariloche instead.

Price of the journey to the Boers of Patagonia, and what it includes

Prices are per person in US dollars, sharing a double or twin room. Flights are not included in either price, and are explained below.

Included

• All accommodation as listed, bed and breakfast — 8 nights on the main journey, 4 further nights on the extension
• All airport and hotel transfers in Argentina, and a dedicated private coach with driver for the Patagonian route
• The guided Buenos Aires city tour, the welcome reception, and the full-day Península Valdés excursion with park entrance and licensed guide
• The Sarmiento day and all entrance fees in the daily programme
• Two Laurik International coordinators throughout, interpreting in Afrikaans, English and Spanish

Not included

• International flights. Both LATAM Airlines and South African Airways fly non-stop from Johannesburg to São Paulo with a connection to Buenos Aires; SAA also from Cape Town. As a guide only, return fares have recently been around ZAR 19,000 from Johannesburg. We are glad to help with bookings, or you may book independently. Our arrival falls in the week before Easter, so book early.
• Domestic flights, which we book for the whole group and charge at cost, so that you see exactly what they cost. As a guide: Buenos Aires–Comodoro Rivadavia about USD 200 and Trelew–Buenos Aires about USD 180; on the extension, Bariloche–Buenos Aires instead, about USD 150.
• Meals other than breakfast, and all drinks. The restaurants and tea houses in the programme are booked by us and paid for at the table. Community meals in Comodoro and Sarmiento are the community's own hospitality.
• Travel insurance, visa fees, optional add-ons, gratuities and personal expenses.

To reserve a place. A deposit of USD 1,000 per person confirms your place; the balance is due by 14 February 2027. Places on the main journey are limited to 24 and are allocated in order of confirmed deposit. The extension is confirmed once it reaches 12 participants.

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