Featured in the Spring 2025 issue of Wander magazine
by Diana Ballon
The only time I went to summer camp as a kid I cried for 28 out of 30 days. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I enrolled in a program in Mexico’s Baja California Sur (the lower half of the Baja peninsula) where organized activities, communal meals and guides (“counsellors”) would translate into something akin to adult summer camp.
Far from shivering in a damp sleeping bag or grilling a hotdog over an open fire, this camping experience was an adventure of the very best kind. Organized through Todos Santos Eco Adventures, personalized trips to Baja incorporate everything from whale watching, to hiking, kayaking, birdwatching, cliff walks, surfing, cooking classes and mosaic arts workshops. You pick.
For me and two girlfriends, our week-long curated experience involved glamping for two nights on the property of a local ranchero family in the mountains of the Sierra Laguna Biosphere Reserve, and for three nights on a deserted desert island that is part of a national marine park and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Sea of Cortez. In between, we had a couple of nights at their luxurious Casitas Colibris just outside Todos Santos, a small coastal town with a funky, artsy vibe.
While there are many adventure tour companies offering curated experiences, there is something exceptional about what creators Bryan and Sergio Jáuregui envisioned when they created Todos Santos Eco Adventures back in 2002.
“We wanted guests to have an immersive experience,” says Bryan,”to be super comfortable with a high level of service, to be as low impact as possible and to offer activities that would convey our love of the area.”
The quality of the adventures they offer doesn’t simply include tents with cozy beds and plush towels. Also included are healthy gourmet meals, comfortable transportation from place to place, and friendly and deeply knowledgeable local guides who bring you unparalleled access to nature and wildlife. It’s this access that makes the trip magical.
On an afternoon kayak trip at Isla Espiritu Santo, for instance, we watched hundreds of brown pelicans dive-bombing for sardines. “I won’t say so much.” explained our guide Bernardo Cruz. “We will keep the silence for contemplation.” And truly there is nothing to say. Although we saw heads of green turtles popping to the surface, and a great blue heron off in the distance in the mangroves by the shore, these dare-devil pelicans had won the show.
Another day, after a short jaunt in the skiff, we stuffed ourselves into wetsuits and plunged into the Sea of Cortez to swim with sea lions. There were literally hundreds of them. Some lying on the shore, barking, and some draped across each other, including a nursing pup. In the water, older playful pups jumped and dove all around us. Naughty ones grabbed at our snorkels and tugged at the dangling rope on our guide’s lifebuoy.
Back at Camp Cecil de la Isla, about twelve of us – British, American and Canadian – slept under comfy duvets in a row of green tents along the beach over three blissful nights, and shared communal meals, including delicious shrimp tacos and grilled sea bass, under a makeshift covered canvas roof.
Prior to our time at the beach, I wasn’t sure what to expect when we headed out to Camp Cecil de la Sierra deep in the mountains. Getting there involved winding our way along dusty rocky roads past many cacti and shrubs. After about an hour, we entered a small clearing, and – almost like an apparition – before us was an entire encampment created in the middle of the rocky desert. At the main open-air thatched roof palapa, there are couches and long tables, where we enjoyed meals created by Chef Martin Marin and his family in the adjacent kitchen with wood-fired grill. And just far enough away for privacy is our tent: one of eight at the camp, nestled between rocks and cacti with two beds, a composting toilet behind, and two rocking chairs on an outdoor carpet, with the mountains beyond.
Here, over the next couple of days, life proceeded in a quiet rhythm within nature, though again very comfortably. Where else can you live in the desert in a tent with solar-powered bedside lamps, gourmet meals that include everything from flank steak to pork ribs at dinner, to both a cold and warm breakfast in the morning, and even a 5:30 p.m. happy hour? (My Dancing Devil cocktail was served in a glass infused with burnt rosemary sprigs, and rimmed with tortilla ash and salt.)
Camp activities, shared with other “campers,” included a nature walk and a morning hike followed by a cool swim in that greenest water imaginable in a nearby swimming hole sunken into the rocks. We also visited the ranchero family who owns the property, where its patriarch, Don Calarina, led us in a leather bracelet-making workshop from hides he himself had cured, before his wife, Dona Luz, demonstrated how to make and cook tortillas over a wood-burning stove.
One remarkable thing that permeates all of Bryan and Sergio’s trips is a commitment to sustainable travel. Both glamping camps are entirely solar-powered (so yes you can charge your phone though there is no cell service), while the casitas are 70 percent powered, have their own water filtration system and are plastic-free.
Todos Santos Eco Adventure did indeed curate our packaged vacation in Baja. They set the stage. But nature has its own plans. And the greatest luxury in and around this peninsula in northwest Mexico are the sunsets, the stillness, and the unexpected appearance of wildlife that make a holiday unforgettable.
As Bryan says: “This is a place where the wildlife really seeks you out, and engages you in such a happy, positive way that you can feel a strong spiritual connection.”
Family-owned and operated since 2002, Todos Santos Eco Adventures boasts boutique-style attention to the guest experience, strong conservations travel credentials, three amazing properties and a dynamic team that loves sharing their passion for the phenomenal natural beauty, unique culture, and extraordinary wildlife of Baja. Find your next adventure at tosea.net