Skip to main content
Mapped Chronicles

Real Journeys · Book

In Patagonia: Chatwin's Road South to the Sloth Cave

In 1974 Bruce Chatwin set out for Patagonia to find his own "piece of brontosaurus": a scrap of skin sent to his grandmother by her cousin, Charley Milward the sailor. Six months of travel became In Patagonia, the book that made his name.

Mapped by Mapped Chronicles editors5 locationsCountries: Argentina, ChileGPX

#butch-cassidy#welsh-patagonia#patagonia#chatwin#travel-writing#1970s

Timeline & locations

What do the location labels mean?
Exact
The pin marks the actual place where it happened or was filmed.
Approximate
The right area — a town, park or district — but not a precise spot.

  1. The quest begins with a scrap of reddish mylodon hair that Charley Milward the sailor sent to Chatwin's grandmother. Chatwin's search for Milward leads from England to La Plata's natural history museum, the first stop on the trail of the giant sloth. From here the book wanders south, and Milward's life becomes a central concern of the whole journey.

    Open inGoogle MapsApple MapsOrganic MapsOpenStreetMapVisitable

    Visitor guidance: A public natural history museum; check opening hours before you go.

    Sources

  2. Visiting Puerto Madryn in the mid-1970s, Chatwin wrote: "A hundred and fifty-three Welsh colonists landed here off the brig Mimosa in 1865." The settlers arrived on 28 July 1865. Further along the Chubut valley the book looks in on their descendants, with pottery pugs on the mantelpiece.

    Open area inGoogle MapsApple MapsOrganic MapsOpenStreetMapVisitability not confirmed

    Location precision: The pin marks the town; the book's passage is a general reflection on the landing.

    Sources

  3. At Cholila, near the Chilean frontier, Chatwin visits a decaying log cabin and is shown a letter that proves to be from Butch Cassidy. Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Etta Place bought a ranch nearby in 1901 and lived there until about 1905. The cabin stands about 12 kilometres north of the village. It was partly restored in 2007, so it is in better shape than the ruin Chatwin found.

    Open area inGoogle MapsApple MapsOrganic MapsOpenStreetMapVisitable

    Location precision: The pin marks Cholila; the cabin itself is some 12 kilometres north of the village.

    Visitor guidance: The cabin lies north of Cholila village; ask locally for current access.

    Sources

  4. In Punta Arenas Chatwin goes on pilgrimage to the captain's house, Casilla 182. Milward's career took him through oil drilling, salvaging, foundries, banking and sheep farming. As consul he accurately reported the location of the German cruiser Dresden, and the British did not believe him. In the end he was ruined by the avarice of others in Punta Arenas.

    Open area inGoogle MapsApple MapsOrganic MapsOpenStreetMapVisitability not confirmed

    Location precision: The pin marks Punta Arenas; the book names the house but its exact site is not given in the sources used here.

    Sources

  5. The goal. In a Chilean cave Milward had found the remains of a giant sloth, and obtained the skin, bones and claws for the British Museum. One of Chatwin's final acts in Patagonia is to return here, where he salvages a few coarse threads of hair. The cave was found in 1895 by Hermann Eberhard. Today it is a natural monument with a life-size replica of the sloth at the entrance.

    Open inGoogle MapsApple MapsOrganic MapsOpenStreetMapVisitable

    Visitor guidance: About 24 km northwest of Puerto Natales; tours run from the town.

    Sources

Spotted a mistake?

Places close, sources disagree, and we get things wrong. If something on this route is off, tell us and we'll fix it.

Suggest a correction

More in Real Journeys

Browse Real Journeys
Real JourneysApproximate

Long Way Round: London to New York

In the spring of 2004 Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman set out from London on motorcycles, heading east for New York with cinematographer Claudio von Planta. The ride ran from 14 April to 29 July and crossed twelve countries and 18,887 miles. The route follows the highlights: a church built of bones in the Czech Republic, a UNICEF project in Mongolia, the mud of the Zilov Gap, the Road of Bones to Magadan, Mount Rushmore and the ride into New York. Pins mark places and areas; the real line of travel ran between them.

7 locations3/7 visitable
Real JourneysApproximate

Alexandra David-Néel: To Lhasa, 1924

Disguised as a beggar, a Belgian-French explorer walked into the forbidden city of Lhasa among pilgrims. Alexandra David-Néel and her adopted son Yongden stayed two months in 1924, then slipped away before the governor could act. The route follows her from Kumbum, where she studied for years, across the Kyi to the Potala and the Monlam crowds, then on to Samye, Tsetang and Gyantse. Pins are area-level, and critics have disputed her account since 1972.

7 locations4/7 visitable
Real JourneysApproximate

Burton and Speke: The Search for the Nile

In 1857 two British officers set out from Zanzibar to find the Great Lakes rumoured to lie in the centre of the continent and, they hoped, the source of the Nile. They found two lakes, and then fell out over what they had found. The route runs from a failed Somali expedition through Zanzibar, Kazeh and Ujiji to Lake Victoria, then on to Speke's Ripon Falls and the Bath debate that never happened. All pins are approximate, as the sources name regions and towns rather than exact spots.

7 locations6/7 visitable
All routes