Causana's Team

Carol Mackie de Passera

Lives in Puerto Madryn, on the Atlantic coast of Patagonia. She was born in Buenos Aires and is of Welsh/Scottish descent, her great great grandmother having been among the first Welsh immigrants to settle in Patagonia ’s Chubut Valley in the 1860 ’s. Carol attended the Medical School at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, going to live in Patagonia when her husband, Carlos, assumed the post of park Ranger at the penguin colony of Punta Tombo. In addition to the challenge of caring for an infant and two toddlers in such a remote outpost (her only neighbours being 600.000 Magellanic penguins), Carol banded hundreds of penguins for Wildlife Conservation International and translated into English her husband ’s first book, Fight for Life, which concerns the Magellanic penguin ’s struggle for survival.
Carol now works as a naturalist guide for their ecotourism company, Causana Viajes, and is involved in conservation efforts throughout Patagonia. Because of her great warmth and expertise, Carol is an inspired and inspiring tour leader, leading natural and cultural history trips for Massachusetts Audubon Society, Questers Tours &Travel, the California Nature Conservancy, Geographic Expeditions and Cloud Ridge Naturalists. Designing custom tours for the nature lover and educational seminars is what she specializes in, when not in the field.

Carlos A. Passera

Used his formal training in journalism early on to become involved with nature tourism and conservation. He has worked extensively as an editor and as a writer of interpretative and educational material for the Conservation Office of Tourism in Chubut, Argentina, and has consulted, written and edited for national and international publications specializing in natural history. He has also been involved with audiovisual media in the same field, including working with National Geographic on a television film about the penguins of Patagonia. For four years Carlos was employed as the Park Ranger at Punta Tombo Nature Reserve. Then he became head of Park Rangers in the Chubut Conservation System. After that, he has guided tour groups around Patagonia, Antartica and other wilderness areas of Argentina for more than a decade. Carlos was born in Buenos Aires City and now lives in Puerto Madryn -the gate to Península Valdés area- where he and Carol direct Causana Viajes.

Marina Passera with a degree in Tourism, in charge of the administration department, is Causana Viajes youngest member.

Biologist Bernabe (Berna) Urtubey, based at the End of the World (Ushuaia), manages the Operations Department, when he is not leading or guiding Causana’s groups.

Pablo Passera – Professor in Physical Education with a mountaineering orientation – is developing and impelling the Extremme Active Departament, leading kayak and trekking expeditions.

Causana’s Naturalists Team, has been carefully selected with many years of experience in their area. We prioritize locals when selecting drivers, scientists and experts, who work together with us sharing their knowledge with our travellers.