Rates:
Trips are guaranteed to depart with a minimum of 2 participants. The above price is per person in US$, based on double occupancy.
Do you want us to arrange your flights from Santiago to Robinson Crusoe? Duration of the flight: 2.5 hours plus 1 hour boat trip from airstrip to the village of San Juan Bautista. Baggage weight allowance: 1 bag or small suitcase of 10 kg (22 lbs) per person. Each additional kilo (2,2 lbs) has an extra charge of USD 5.00. Flights to Robinson Crusoe Island are operated by Lassa airlines and leave approximately at 9:00am from Aerodromo de Tobalaba, located at Avenida Larraín 7941, La Reina, Santiago.
What the trip includes/excludes Single supplement will be added if single accommodations are requested. The trip price includes: All accommodations, meals and local guide services as stated in the itinerary, domestic flights (Santiago - Robinson Crusoe Island - Santiago worth $750), private transfers in Santiago to domestic airport, boat trips to San Juan Bautista, two pelagic trips | scenic boat trips (c. 2 hours each), plus park entrance fees.
The trip price excludes: Tipping, travel insurance, à la carte dishes, snacks, drinks, laundry, telephone calls and anything else of a purely personal nature.
Tour Registration: To register for this tour, complete the Fantastico Sur Expeditions registration form and return it (by fax or email) with a deposit of US$ 350 per person. Full payment of the tour fee is due 90 days prior to tour departure.
Cancellation Policy: Notice of cancellation can only be accepted IN WRITING from the person who signed the booking form and takes effect on the day such noticed is received by us. Refunds are made according to the following schedule: If cancellation is made 120 days or more before departure date, the deposit less US$ 200 is refundable. If cancellation is made between 120 and 60 days before departure, the deposit is not refundable, but any payments covering the balance of the fee will be refunded. If cancellation is made fewer than 60 days before departure date, no refund is available. This policy and fee schedule also applies to pre-trip and post trip extensions, as well as any transfers from one tour to another. We strongly recommend the purchase of trip cancellation insurance to protect yourself.
Slide ShowRobinson Crusoe Island - Trip Codes: JUF01 (4 days), JUF02 (5 days)
Check our sample of images taken during our recent tours to Robinson Crusoe Island. ... and also visit our dedicated slideshow with the dazzling pictures of Enrique Couve showing the wildlife and landscapes of Robinson Crusoe Island.
Learn more...Robinson Crusoe Island - Trip Codes: JUF01 (4 days), JUF02 (5 days)
Read these interesting articles: • Unique wildlife of the islands at risk (The Guardian, UK - 16 Nov 2009) • Juan Fernandez Archipelago: The 'Galapagos' for plants (The Daily Telegraph, UK - 17 Nov 2009) Introduction from the book Robinson Crusoe Island | Wildlife and Landscapes by Enrique Couve and Claudio F. Vidal (2008), FS Editorial.
© Fantástico Sur Expedtions 2009. No portion of this website may be reproduced without the prior written consent of Fantástico Sur Birding Ltda. | Fantástico Sur Expeditions. All rights reserved. |
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Browse our 2010 Online Digital Catalog here or use the link below to request a print catalog.
On February 12, 1709, the British corsair fleet composed by the Duke and Duchess set anchor at Masatierra Island, the easternmost of the Juan Fernandez archipelago. That day, the expedition rescued the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who survived a voluntarily accepted exile on that island lasting more than four years. In November of 1704, the tough Selkirk was left by himself, being left only with a trunk with tools, a musket, an axe, a knife, a pound of powder and ammunition, a cauldron, a small amount of tobacco and a Bible. Back in England, his accounts inspired the writer Daniel Defoe, who in 1719 published his well-known classic “The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.” Selkirk’s epic saga, the history of this lonely exiled figure on that remote oceanic island, later immortalized on the amazing adventures of the literary character, was enough good reason in 1966 to justify the name change of the two main islands of that Chilean archipelago: Masatierra became known as Robinson Crusoe while the formerly called Masafuera was named after Alexander Selkirk.
The Portuguese Joao Fernandez accidentally discovered the archipelago on November 22, 1574 while searching for a faster route between Callao and Valparaíso. The human history of this yet pristine oceanic island started that day. Between the XVII and XVIII centuries, the island was seldom visited; only by corsairs and pirates looking for a seasonal shelter in order to restore food and water after their long journeys through the Cape Horn and Spanish ports in the Pacific.
Robinson Crusoe Island is located in the Pacific Ocean at 33º13’S and 78º50’W, some 415 miles west from the central Chilean coast. This abrupt island has an east-west orientation and occupies a small surface of 37 sq. miles. It is dominated by the presence of a central range of jagged hills, with a maximum elevation of 3,000 feet. Robinson Crusoe, together the small island of Santa Clara, situated a short distance from its southwestern end, and Alexander Selkirk Island, located some 110 miles westwards, comprise the Juan Fernandez Archipelago. In 1935, this territory was declared a National Park by the Chilean Government, which protects a total surface of nearly 25,000 acres. Later, in 1977, in order to preserve the biodiversity of this temperate forest ecoregion, it was conferred the rank of World Biosphere Reserve.
Its diverse native flora is the evolutionary product of air- and water-carried colonizers, which started to establish on the islands right after their formation, estimated to have occurred between 1 and 5.8 million years ago. This flora has ancestral connections with distant regions such as New Zealand, Hawaii and Patagonia. Today, the higher plants are represented by 211 native species, from which 135 are endemic species. This corresponds to a high rate of endemism, above 60%; there are 12 genera and one family entirely endemic to these islands. Two species recently became extinct, 63 face an imminent threat of extinction and 38 are highly vulnerable.
Robinson Crusoe bird life comprises endemic land birds such as the Juan Fernandez Firecrown and Juan Fernandez Tit-Tyrant. The archipelago is also an important breeding site for a wide array of seabird species, only nesting on its islets and forests. On the other hand, its complete isolation from continental masses has prevented the occurrence of land mammals, reptiles and frogs. The only endemic marine mammal of the whole archipelago is the Juan Fernandez Fur Seal, which luckily has survived an extremely long period of hunting and extermination, in which millions of individuals were decimated for the value of its skin. Unfortunately, this fragile island ecosystem, which has slowly generated an array of exclusive plants and animals, has severely suffered since the human arrival. Its native creations are helpless and unable to compete against abundant and competitive new plant and animal colonizers. The ancestral castaways of Robinson Crusoe face today a serious fight against their own disappearance, from this evolutionary stronghold, one the last in the South Pacific. 