About Karukinka: A Non-Profit Adventure in Patagonia Since 2014
Where dreams and encounters become expeditions and shared paths
Some ideas are born in lecture halls; Karukinka was born in the field. Founded in 2014, Karukinka is a non-profit association dedicated to maritime expeditions, scientific research, and the preservation of Indigenous heritage in Southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
Our story is written on nautical charts and through the voices of the Selk’nam, Yagan, and Haush peoples. It is the story of an NGO that believes exploration should no longer be a conquest, but a dialogue.
"Karukinka ? It’s the slightly mad dream of someone who thinks there are no limits, and a few others mad enough to believe she's right." Sébastien Pons
A scientific and adventurous solo trek in Tierra del Fuego, a voice, and a turning point that became a bearing
In 2013, founder Lauriane Lemasson crossed Tierra del Fuego alone (>2000km). Accompanied by the austral winds, she sought the indigenous voices that official history had deemed extinguished. Her journey revealed a living memory hidden in gestures, songs, and forgotten words.
"When you represent an (almost) lost cause, you must sound the trumpet, leap onto your horse and attempt a final chance. Otherwise, you die of old age, sad, in the depths of the forgotten fortress that no one besieges anymore because life has moved elsewhere." — Jean Raspail, Le roi au-delà de la mer.
From this odyssey, a simple, powerful idea emerged:
What if we could create a common space where science, art, and traditions cross? Where exploration is no longer conquest, but dialogue? Where curiosity and humility walk side by side?
In January 2014, the Karukinka association was officially established. We chose the name the Selk’nam give to their land: “Karukinka” – “the last land of people.” Since then, our non-profit organization has united scientists, artists, sailors, and indigenous peoples around a common goal: protecting the natural and cultural heritage of the far South.
“For a journey or a long itinerary, Karukinka is allowing yourself to feel a little more alive.”
Dreams on the map, people around the table
At first, they were a small group. Lauriane, a few close friends, then sailors, artists, researchers, dreamers, and activists. Everyone gave what they could—after work, modestly, but always wholeheartedly believing in it.
Writers supported and sponsored the adventure from 2014: Jean Raspail and Jean Malaurie. Bookshelves filled, maps blackened with notes, projects took shape.
But Karukinka is not just science or activism. It’s a living place between knowledge and lived experience, a fluid space where everyone can take part: one foot on the land, one foot aboard, heart between the two.
Unique people gather around this vision.
Other callings, other lives, other stories are woven around it. Karukinka draws together people you’d never assemble elsewhere.
Karukinka is a community of researchers, artists, Indigenous people, youth, elders, sailors, and dreamers. It’s a shifting mosaic where each person adds a piece: science, cooking, drawing, botany, mechanics, storytelling—even doubts or silences, sometimes. All are bound by an invisible thread: the will to marvel together, to learn sincerely, to care for the world—and for each other.
A way to live and act
Karukinka is built on ethical, modest, and resilient foundations:
- Open partnerships with universities, museums, schools, artists
- A growing fleet
- Mixed funding: cultural grants, project funding calls, membership fees and solidarity
But beyond the numbers, it’s a place of transformation. Those who come aboard leave changed.
What Karukinka brings to the world
- Giving a voice to the forgotten.
- Passing on a livable world that we observe with care.
- Marveling like children who already know, and relearning like adults who listen.
- Creating a space for exploration where science and humanity are inseparable.
- Improbable encounters with those we'd never thought to meet.
Living, embodied, shared science
Because Karukinka is also a nomadic scientific base. There, we explore the links between humans and the environment, rigorously but without arrogance. We record the sounds of life. We map names forgotten by official charts.
Scientific activities are in-depth, sensitive, field-based, and transversal—a far cry from sterile labs:
- Soundscapes of Patagonia and the Arctic (over 500 hours of sound archives).
- Linguistic and toponymic mapping of 3,000 terrestrial and marine sites (Selk’nam, Yagan, Haush).
- Ethnological and bioacoustic field research in the fjords from the Strait of Magellan to Cape Horn.
- The programme "Voces de las Abuelas": a vast project of collecting and returning ethnographic archives to those they belong to. One does not steal memory; one gives it back, shares it.
- Workshops and mixed crews, where everyone becomes a stowaway in science: botanists, novice sailors, storytellers, high schoolers, acousticians, fishers, dreamers…
Here, disciplines don’t just add up, they come together in a shared narrative collectively woven.
A boat as a base camp and tool for international action
No one is surprised that science here happens on a sailboat. In 2023, thanks to association members’ support, Karukinka acquired Milagro, a 20-meter Swedish ketch. Laden with water tanks and dreams, it becomes a floating base camp, a refuge, a marker, a sailing school, a creative studio.
The Future of Karukinka's Expeditions
In a decade, Karukinka has grown from a solitary trek into a recognized NGO with a profound North/South scientific agenda. Looking ahead, we are committed to:
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Expanding our multilingual archive returns to Indigenous peoples.
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Hosting artistic and scientific residencies in Selk’nam and Yagan territories by 2027.
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Providing free public access to our collected data (sounds, maps, stories) by 2030.
Over the past decade, Karukinka has evolved from a solitary trek across Tierra del Fuego into a recognized NGO, equipped with an ocean-going vessel and a cross-hemisphere scientific and artistic agenda. Our journey proves that a small, independent organization can drive profound impact through sailing, academic networks, and cultural exchange.
Our work is defined by the constant weaving of three essential threads: empirical research, collective creation, and concrete support for Indigenous peoples. Through initiatives like Voces de las Abuelas and our Indigenous Cartography project, we have opened a new cycle focused on transmitting local knowledge and co-creating a living memory with the communities of the far South.
Ultimately, Karukinka is a crossroads where disciplines, generations, and languages meet. It is a shared adventure where science is nourished by humanity, and where knowledge embraces the mystery of the natural world. Those who sail with us come to learn, share, and marvel. They return home changed—with a wider heart, deep friendships, and the profound certainty that true discovery is, above all, an encounter.
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Contact
+33 2 40 56 31 95
+33 6 72 83 03 94