Estancia Harberton

Historic Harberton dates from 1886, when missionary pioneer Thomas Bridges resigned from the Anglican mission at Ushuaia to settle at his new estancia at Downeast, later renamed for the Devonshire home town of his wife Mary Ann Varder. Thomas Bridges, of course, was the author of the famous English-Yámana dictionary, and their son Lucas continued the family literary tradition with The Uttermost Part of the Earth, an extraordinary memoir of a boyhood and life among the Yámana.

Harberton continues to be a family enterprise—its present manager and part-owner, Tommy Goodall, is Thomas Bridges’s great-grandson. While the livestock industry that spawned it has declined in recent years, the estancia has opened its doors to organized English- and Spanish-language tours of its grounds and outbuildings; these include the family cemetery, flower gardens, the wool shed, woodshop, boathouse, and a native botanical garden whose Yámana-style lean-tos are far more realistic than their Disneyfied counterparts along the Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino tourist train.

In addition, Tommy Goodall’s wife, American biologist Rae Natalie Prosser, has also created the Museo Acatushún de Aves y Mamíferos Marinos Australes (www.acatushun.com), a bone museum stressing the region’s marine mammals but also seabirds and a few shorebirds; it’s open 10 a.m.–7 p.m. daily, with guided tours for US$2 pp. It is also possible to visit Magellanic penguin rookeries at Isla Martillo (Yecapasela) with Piratur for US$18 pp; a small colony of gentoo penguins has recently established itself on the island, making this a more intriguing trip for those who’ve seen Magellanic penguins elsewhere.

Estancia Harberton (tel. 02901/422742, fax 029091/422743 in Ushuaia, estanciaharberton@tierradelfuego.org.ar) is 85 kilometers east of Ushuaia via paved RN 3 and gravel RC-j, but a new coastal road from Ushuaia is likely to shorten the distance soon. From mid-October to mid-April, the estancia is open for guided tours (US$3.50 pp) 10 a.m.–7 p.m. daily except Christmas, New Year’s, and Easter.

With written permission, camping is permitted at unimproved sites; the estancia has also remodeled the former cookhouse (two rooms with four or five beds each and shared bath) and shepherds’ house (two rooms of three beds with private bath), for US$60–80 pp, depending on the room.

Harberton’s Casa de Té Mánacatush serves a tasty afternoon tea for US$4.50 pp, and serves lunch and dinner as well (US$11, reservations advised).

In summer, Transportes Pasarela and others provides round-trip transportation from Ushuaia (US$20–30 pp), but these services change frequently. Piratur offers a US$50 package that includes transportation, the farm and museum tour, and the penguin colony.

Catamaran tours from Ushuaia are more expensive and spend less time at Harberton, but do include the farm and museum tour fee.