Article in "La Voz de Chile"
Chile and Argentina, a new era of ecotourism. Large recovered areas of Chile and Argentina in Patagonia are ushering in a new era of ecotourism.
Chile and Argentina: Ecotourism and Rewilding
American conservationists Doug and Kris Tompkins, former CEOs of The North Face and Patagonia respectively,purchased vast tracts of land in Chile and Argentina to donate to governments for conversion into national parks,sustained by ecotourism.
Their vision went beyond preserving empty landscapes; they aimed to fully restore ecosystems, including the reintroduction of locally extinct species and managing the biodiversity of the remaining ones. In Iberá, eight species have been released, including the giant anteater, the pampas deer, the red-and-green macaw, the tapir, and, most controversially,the jaguar. Five years ago,Les assisted the foundation in presenting their plan to reintroduce the cat to cautious Argentinian officials, and in January 2021, a female donated by a zoo and her two cubs were released into the wild.
The region has now become ground zero for an experiment that could recalibrate ecosystems across the continent, with millions of hectares protected with the help of Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, NGOs that split from Tompkins Conservation in 2019 after Doug's death.
"They are writing the textbook on rewilding in South America. It's exciting," they say.
Los Lagos
"Care of the people" is the cornerstone at Vira Vira, in Chile's Lake District. Amid a tableau of snow-capped volcanoes, transparent lakes, and chalet-style villages, wildlife is scarce. But these landscapes remain vital to the Mapuche, Chile's largest indigenous group, who tend to live in isolated communities. In the village of Quelhue, a guest of Vira Vira sponsored a rainwater collection system for the family of local elder Doña Rosario, who welcomes guests into her home, one of the last thatched-roof rukas in the region. Her son Fernando shows off his rows of spinach and potatoes. "We take only what we need from the land," he says. "The Mapuche have always had respect for nature."
As remote as it is, Chilean Patagonia has seen a surge in tourism, thanks to its towering mountains, vast ice fields and rolling pampas, and the cryptic cat that stalks them, the puma. The journey continues south to Torres del Paine National Park, a five-hour drive from Punta Arenas across scrub-covered steppe patrolled by llama-like guanacos and the region's Andean condors.
Cerro Guido
One of Chile's most exciting wildlife projects is underway at Estancia Cerro Guido, a sheep ranch in a valley beneath the snowy massif, whose owners, with input from Rewilding Chile and andBeyond, are building a managed ecosystem in which their livestock can safely coexist with thriving wildlife. There is a puma research project led by Pia Vergara and a program of sheepdogs that look after the livestock. Guests have access to behind-the-scenes conservation activities: going out with Pia at dawn to collect camera trap images, visiting the puma command center, and stalking the movements of the tawny cats across a ridge where a river draws guanacos to drink.
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