Mare Australis special promotional rates

The Mare and Via Australis are offering special low promotional rates for their 2009/2010 Patagonia & Tierra del Fuego cruises.

Promotional rates start at $840, per person (3-night cruise) and $1120, per person (4-night cruise).

Promotional departure dates:

3 nights (Ushuaia to Punta Arenas):

2009 - September 23, 30; October 3, 7, 10, 14

2010 - April 3, 7, 14

4 nights (Punta Arenas to Ushuaia):

2009 - September 19, 26, 29; October 3, 6, 10, 13

2010 - April 3, 10

Also offered are low-season rates for the folllowing 4 high-season 2009 departures:

3 nights - December 16, 19

4 nights - December 15, 19

All special rates are subject to availability. Contact Lost World Adventures for availability and a detailed itinerary. We specialize in customized adventure travel and can include an Australis cruise on your Chile & Argentina itinerary.

Holiday space in Costa Rica still available

As travelers are booking their holiday vacations to Costa Rica, we still have rooms available at two upscale lodges for holiday season - Lapa Rios on the Osa Peninsula and the Arenal Kioro Suites & Spa.

The Arenal Kioro is a beautiful 5-star hotel with excellent views of Arenal Volcano, its own private hot springs and a spa of the highest standards available in the Arenal region. All suites have two individual terraces with the best panoramic volcano and mountain view.

The world famous Lapa Rios eco lodge is set in a private nature reserve spread over 1,000 acres of Central America's last remaining lowland tropical rainforest in Costa Rica, Lapa Rios Ecolodge overlooks the pristine point where the Golfo Dulce meets the wild Pacific Ocean, a destination matching everyone's idea of paradise.

John and Karen Lewis first envisioned Lapa Rios a private nature reserve. The Minnesota couple was driven by a dream that required liquidating all their assets to finance the purchase of a large tract of rainforest and to build a small, supporting ecotourism project. A conservation easement elaborated by The Nature Conservancy and CEDARENA will ensure this primary forest be preserved in perpetuity, the land never to be developed. The 930-acre Lapa Rios Reserve helps buffer the Osa Peninsula’s Corcovado National Park and serves as a wildlife corridor.

Lapa Rios was designed in harmony with the surrounding forest and beach environment. The main lodge and bungalows line three ridges and are connected by walking paths and steps. Built over 350 feet above the sea, Lapa Rios catches the cooling tropical ocean and forests breezes. The main lodge and the Brisa Azul restaurant soar 50 feet above the sea and, like the private 16 bungalows, are built of locally harvested materials and have intricately woven palm thatched roofs. Climb the lodge’s three-story circular stairway to overlook the forest canopy and breathtaking ocean vistas. Comfortable, locally made bamboo furniture and huge private decks aid relaxation amidst pristine nature.

If you want to spend your year-end holidays in Costa Rica, book now while rooms are still available.

Atacama Skies - Observatory Adventure

Call Lost World Adventures to book an Astronomical tour of the Atacama Desert.

Renovated Galapagos Yacht Isabela

Periodically, all vessels need more substantial marine maintenance and need to be hauled out of the water. This is called a dry dock period, and Metropolitan Touring plans these for its vessels in order to keep them under top performance due to its intensive use throughout the year. Metropolitan Touring’s Yacht ISABELA II, which operates Tuesday to Tuesday Galápagos Expeditions, went through its regular dry dock works where various important improvements were made; all of these are done taking into consideration guest satisfaction, energy efficiency, safety, and assuring minimal environmental impact.
The Ship:
Significant repairs to machinery and equipment and general maintenance of the ship’s hull and structures
Change of shafts and complete overhaul of engines
Assembly of new rudder and steering mechanisms
Installation of two brand new generators that use state of the art technology and match environmental efficiency according to international standards.
Safety
A new sprinkler system was installed throughout the vessel to upgrade and monitor more closely its safety standards
Kitchen:
General maintenance of the kitchen with new flooring, refrigeration systems and air conditioning.
Complete maintenance and overhaul of kitchen equipment
Public Areas:
Bar Lounge furniture received new leather tapestry and new upholstery.
Replacement of all dining room chairs upholstery.
New carpeting in: bar lounge, reception area, reading room, dining-room, stairs and hallway.
Jacuzzi: maintenance and overhaul of all systems, including pumps, filters and coating.
Guest cabins
New upholstery was installed in the furniture of the guest cabins, as well as new wallpaper.
Staff
Engine room staff had their cabin redone and properly equipped
Public restroom facilities, including showers, were thoroughly upgraded
Additionally, the ISABELA II now has a brand new Glass-bottom boat to discover the underwater realm of the Galápagos Marine Reserve, the second largest in the World.

The Flowering Atacama Desert

If you combine the driest desert in the world and the seeds that have been landing for months and you allow just an hour of rainfall you will watch one of the most amazing spectacles of how life found her way. The desert ecosystem is known as arid and with a great lack of rain, but we know that every three to eight years the surface of the waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean will warm up, causing rainfalls in the most arid places, like our Atacama desert. Between the months of September and November, the miracle waters created a sea of flowers, where more than 200 species of an endemic character grows freely. This great quantity of flower allows the presence of birds, insects, little lizards all of them creating a new ecosystem. You can be one of the few that will be able to watch this marvelous display of nature and life, colours and textures, aromas and beauty all in the north of Chile, a land that will surprised you in every step you take. Come and live the experience!

New Year's Eve in Vina del Mar - A Night of Light & Gourmet Cuisine

14 miles of fireworks over the Pacific Ocean and shores, named one of the most amazing shows of this type in the world. New year on the sea is a festival of light and gourmet cuisine that the cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar provide every year. People gather from all over the country to come and watch this show, restaurants and hotels prepare a magnificent dinner and a great view to admire and wonder with the colours and forms of this great show; as a tradition, in different parts of Chile the firework show and dinners are imitated. The wine valleys offer a different way to spend new years eve, a great dinner a quiet night and the countryside, harmony will take you out of the noise and lights of the city, giving you a magnificent night in the company of your loved ones. Santiago, the capital, has great offers, many hotels organize special dinners and parties to celebrate the first hours of the New year. You decide if you want a quiet or active night, we provide a great service, a magnificent cuisine, the perfect view with the right music. Just tell us where you want it!

Lamanai Outpost Lodge - 50% off second guest

The Lamanai Outpost Lodge, located in the Maya Mountains of Belize is offering special 2009 rates on their Natural History Packages. First guest pays full package price - the second guest receives a 50% discount. Offer valid through the end of October 2009. Package prices listed below.

The simple but comfortable Lamanai Lodge can be your base for exploring the surrounding forest and wetlands. Commanding an excellent view of the New River, the lodge itself sits less than a mile from the Mayan ruins of Lamanai. Trails lead off from the lodge into the ruins, where there is a rich assortment of birds typically found in the tropical hardwood forests of western Belize and the Peten region of Guatemala. In the early morning, troops of chachalacas, toucans, aracaris, and parrots roam through the trees on the grounds.

2009 2-night packages from $500; 3-nights from $681, 4-nights from $864. Rates are per person, based on double occupancy. Include round-trip transfers Belize City-Lamania, Superior Garden-view cabana accommodations, meals and 2 standard activities per package night (3 nights = 6 activities).

Activities include: Sunrise Canoeing, Jungle Dawn, Lamanai Maya Ruins, Maya Jungle Medicine Walk, Sunset Cocktail Cruise, Afternoon Nature Walk, Evening Spotlight River Safari, Night Walk.

Accommodation can be upgraded (at addtional charge) to Lagoon View, Lagoon Front, Garden Suite (with A/C), Honeymoon Suite (with A/C).

Orinoco Delta, Venezuela

Now one of Unesco's biospheres, the Orinoco Delta has been recognized for its biological importance. The countless waterways are peppered with colorful birds, wonderful mammals, reptiles, fish and plants of great beauty. This rich ecosystem is where the largest river in Venezuela, the Orinoco (The Father of Our Land in the Warao language), meets the Atlantic Ocean along a 231 miles coastline.

The Orinoco Delta boasts species of great scientific and biological importance and here lives the ancestral culture of the Warao. Warao means "people of the water" and represents the second most populous indian group in Venezuela. Still living off of fishing, hunting, gathering of wild fruits and the farming of some products, the Warao are masters of weaving, using their artistic abilities to transform plants like the Bora, Mamure, Tirite and Moriche in renownl baskets, bowls, hammocks, hats and other artisan products part of their cultural richness.

Wildlife like the rare Manatee, the River Otter, the River Dolphin and the Crab-eating Fox; birds like parrots, toucans, the Scarlet and Blue-and-Yellow Macaws, the Rufous Crab-Hawk and the Muscovy Duck, reptiles like the Caiman and the Delta Lizard, and fish like the delicious Lau-Lau, the Cat Fish and the Coporo form the most characteristic fauna of the Orinoco Delta. Swamp jungles, mires, Moriche palms oasis, flooding savannahs and mangroves are the main kinds of vegetation.

The Delta Amacuro State covers 16,294 square miles and its capital city is Tucupita. Although mainly located in the Delta Amacuro State, it also claims small portions of Monagas, Sucre and Bolivar states. The Orinoco waters divide in two main courses. To the north, The Caño Manamo, which ends in the Gulf of Paria, and to the east, The Rio Grande, which ends in the Atlantic Ocean. There are not scheduled flights to this city but we easily access this region from Maturin in Monagas state or Puerto Ordaz in Bolivar State.

Our preferred lodges here include the Orinoco Delta Lodge combined with its wilder, little brother Simoina Camp and the Tobe Lodge. All are reached by boat and offer comfortable accommodations and activities like canoeing, visits to the indian communities, piranha fishing and jungle walks in order to fully experience this region.

Contact us to include the Orinoco in a customized itinerary of travel to Venezuela.

20% Discount at Hosteria Las Torres

Book a Torres del Paine package at Hosteria Las Torres for travel in September or October and receive a 20% discount off retail package rates. Packages include transfers from Punta Arenas or El Calafate, Argentina, accommodations, meals and daily guided excursions.Call Lost World Adventures for program descriptions and rates.