Estancia Laguna Amarga was one of the many livestock ranches that were part of the Sociedad Explotadora de Tierra del Fuego (SETF), the largest and most important sheep breeding company in Patagonia. It operated from 1893 until 1973, when the company, due to a new Chilean agrarian reform, was dissolved. Information about the estancia during the SETF time is unfortunately limited.

The spring

There is a small spring next to the estancia, where there was a mineral water bottling plant around 1927. There is not much information about it, but an old article from the local newspaper, La Prensa Austral, describes the life of the Crema-Muñoz family. Carlos Crema Zuffro, who arrived in Chile in 1918, created a water bottling plant, called “Fabrica Nacional Cerro Paine”, and he would drive to Laguna Amarga, a journey that lasted 6 days from Puerto Natales, to collect approximately 500 liters of water. At the Patagonia institute, they have a label on the packaging. This family was some of the first to sell water in Puerto Natales, and they would use a horse wagon to distribute water around the village.

Ea. Laguna Amarga and the Goic family

When Chile implemented the agrarian reform, the land of the SETF was divided into smaller lots and put for sale. Families, mostly European immigrants that had been working as employees for the company, bought the estancias, and in 1976, the property of Estancia Laguna Amarga was bought by Mr. Juan Goic Arbunic and his wife, Olga Utrovicich Pavlov.

With the ranch they bought approximately 6,500 hectares. It is not known exactly when the house was built, but there is a photo from 1930 where the house appears. The family lived from livestock and had up to 5,500 sheep. Juan and Olga had 2 children, Tomislav and Juan, who still live on the ranch today.

The ranch, and the whole area is named after the Amarga lagoon. Amarga means “bitter”, and it has this name due to its high Ph value of 9.1. Read more about the Amarga Lagoon in our blogpost HERE.

The White Earthquake in 1995

In August 1995 there was a heavy snow storm that affected many of the livestock ranches in Magallanes. The climate event was named “The White Earthquake,” and consisted of intense winds, extreme cold temperatures down to -20 degrees celsius, and snowfall of up to 2 meters. More than 176.000 sheep and 10.500 cattle died due to lack of forrage and cold.

Many ranchers left the livestock business after this event, and sold their land, most of them to Estancia Cerro Guido, which today is the largest ranch in the region. Most of the Goic family's animals also died, but they did not sell their land and continued living on the ranch. A few hundred sheep survived, and the family kept them close to the estancia's main house for personal consumption. This meant that the rest of the land, more than 6,000 hectares, were left without livestock animals.

The rise of Wildlife sightings in Torres del Paine

With the grasslands now left without livestock animals, the grass started to grow. With the grass recovering, the guanacos, rheas and other herbivores returned. With the return of these animals, the pumas also returned. Between the national park, and the bordering Estancia Laguna Amarga, the wildlife were protected, and it started to be more and more commun to spot pumas in these areas.

Years later, the interest in wildlife sightings, especially of the pumas, started to grow. Local guides and operators started to work with the Goic family, getting permission to enter the ranch, looking for the pumas. This was when the members of the Goic family started to get involved in tourism, specifically puma sightings, and the conservation of nature and local fauna. The family dedicated 100 percent of their time to this business until the pandemic passed. Uncertain whether tourism was going to be reactivated or not, they decided to reintroduce sheep farming, but this time with different management.

Read more about the re-introduction of 1,000 sheep back in 2022 HERE

The creation of Leona Amarga Expedition

In 2017, Tomislav and his two daughters, Dania and Daneska, created their own agency, Leona Amarga Expedition, that handles all activities inside the property of Estancia Laguna Amarga such as horseback riding tours, wildlife sightings, film productions, scientific research, and maintenance. Today, it is mainly Dania and Daneska who handles the tourism area, while Tomislav handles the livestock management of the approximately 500 sheep.

Photo by Rodrigo Moraga