Tierra del Fuego National Park was set up in 1960 and covers an area of 63,000 square kilometres, only a small part of which is open to the public. We travel by 4WD mini-van or Landrover. Our day excursion is designed for those who enjoy walks along easy and undemanding paths before sailing on a rubber zodiac on the Beagle Channel. We are picked up from our hotel between 9:00 and 9:30 am and travel westwards. After arriving at the national park gate we pay our park fee (this amount is not included and is approximately US$13) and proceed on a three-hour walk along the coast. This seven kilometre walk is doubtlessly the most beautiful in the park, as we come across a great variety of vegetation including high deciduous beech, low deciduous beech, evergreen beech, winter's bark and firebush. At beautiful Ensenada Bay we board an 18-person zodiac and navigate our way along the Beagle Channel to Redonda Island, where we view rocky cormorants nestling on rocky cliffs. We then disembark on the island and enjoy our lunch in a refuge. Lunch is usually homemade pasta and drinks include red wine, sodas and mineral water. After lunch we have some free time to walk around the island, which is a natural reserve only opened to tourists a couple of years ago. Here we have the choice of two paths to walk on, both 20 minutes long. We board our zodiac and head to Lapataia Bay, where along the way we may see some of the beautiful seabirds of southern Argentina including albatross, petrel, snowy sheathbills and sometimes penguins. Beautiful Lapataia Bay marks the end of the Pan-American Road. It contains evidence of the Yámana people who used to live in huts around this bay and ate shellfish. 90 species of birds live in the park including many water birds as well as the Andean Condor, the bird of prey with the longest wingspan in the world. It is also home to 20 species of land mammals, some of these are introduced animals such as Canadian beaver and grey fox. At the completion of our tour we travel back to Ushuaia and arrive back at our hotel around 4:30 pm. (Please note: on our day trip we may be joining travellers who have booked on other tour packages. This is not a an exclusive excursion of ours.)