This voyage offers a cornucopia of natural and cultural history. Explore extraordinary national parks, like Isla Pan de Azucar in Chile, for close encounters with rare Humboldt penguins, or Lauca, with its awesome displays of condors and other raptors circling the volcanic hills. Take an enchanting cloud forest walk at Fray Jorge World Biosphere Reserve, where the flora is entirely dependent on the condensation of coastal fog. Or, delight in the tranquillity of the Patagonian wilderness at Pumalin, where American Douglas Tompkins has created the largest private park in the world to protect this unique landscape. The cooling Humboldt current makes Paracas in Peru one of the largest marine reserves in the world, and the sanctuary at Mejia is noted for the passage of myriad migratory birds.

The mysterious Nazca Lines are best appreciated from the air and we make a thrilling flightseeing excursion. Along our route, several museums, large and small, display exceptional collections of pre-Columbian artefacts: pottery, textiles and gold. The Juan Fernandez archipelago, some 400 miles off the coast of Chile, was home to castaway Alexander Selkirk, the model for Robinson Crusoe, and the contrasting Chiloe Archipelago was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site for its unique ensemble of mission churches. Our voyage ends in Puerto Montt, an intriguing colonial settlement with dramatic thermal springs.