At the end of November 2014, Leon McCarron and Tom Allen set off for Patagonia to follow the Santa Cruz river across Argentina. Their journey was inspired by the story of the first European exploration of the river, undertaken by Captain FitzRoy in 1834. FitzRoy had been charged with charting the coastline of South America, and his crew included a very young and very impressionable Charles Darwin, who fancied himself as a bit of a geologist and amateur explorer. Both FitzRoy and Darwin left detailed writings of their journey along the river which, sadly, ultimately ended in their failure to find the source (though they came heartbreakingly close.)
Leon, Tom and their friend Jose used these diaries to make a journey in the footsteps of FitzRoy and Darwin, travelling through the steppe on horseback from the Atlantic Ocean to the foothills of the Andes and the vast Lake Argentina that feeds the Santa Cruz. There was another reason for their trip, too - in February 2015, construction is due to begin on two dams, which will flood huge sections of the valley and change the ecosystem and landscape completely. Leon, Tom and Jose were not just following in the footsteps of the first explorers; they were perhaps simultaneously the last travellers to see the Rio Santa Cruz before it changes forever.
Watch the trailer below and see the film on Vimeo On Demand
Leon, Tom and their friend Jose used these diaries to make a journey in the footsteps of FitzRoy and Darwin, travelling through the steppe on horseback from the Atlantic Ocean to the foothills of the Andes and the vast Lake Argentina that feeds the Santa Cruz. There was another reason for their trip, too - in February 2015, construction is due to begin on two dams, which will flood huge sections of the valley and change the ecosystem and landscape completely. Leon, Tom and Jose were not just following in the footsteps of the first explorers; they were perhaps simultaneously the last travellers to see the Rio Santa Cruz before it changes forever.
Watch the trailer below and see the film on Vimeo On Demand
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