BLACKBOOK THE HANDBOOK The Lodge at Valle Chacabuco, the only hotel in Patagonia Park, has ten rooms and a no-shoes policy. “All of the original species of the region are still in residence, which is rare.” It’s not easy to get to the park. The first step is an hour-long flight from Puerto Montt to the two-gate Balmaceda airport, located southeast of Coyhaique, a city of 60,000. From here, it’s a long and bumpy 300km drive south on the dirtand-gravel Carretera Austral (see The Road Less Travelled, page 40). The drive can take anywhere from five hours (with a fast driver) to six and a half (with a cautious one). According to Patagonia Park guide Sergio Urrejola, 90% of the park’s visitors arrive by road, nine per cent by a charter flight into Cochrane (a 3,000-people town 27km south), and one per cent by Cessna, landing on an airstrip in front of the park’s restaurant, which is marked by a red windsock. I n 2004, Conservacion Patagonica, Kristine’s organisation that builds national parks in Patagonia, purchased a 72,000ha working ranch that sat on the land. Since then, smaller land acquisitions have increased the size to 81,000ha. The ranch, one of the largest in the region, was established in 1908. Over time, the land had become overgrazed by livestock, leaving it susceptible to wind erosion and eventual desertification, a problem that currently affects about 30% of Patagonia. From a conservation standpoint, the land is important because it encompasses a variety of ecosystems – grasslands, riparian forests and wetlands – that allow for biodiversity. It’s also strategically positioned between the Chileangovernment-protected Jeinimeni Lake National Reserve to the north and the Tamango National Reserve to the south. NEVER IN MY 34 YEARS HAVE I BEEN SO MOVED BY EARTH IN ITS NATURAL STATE OF BEING The idea is that Conservacion Patagonica will gift its land to the state, provided the government’s two other landholdings are combined to expand Patagonia Park to 260,000ha. It is a model the Tompkinses used to create Chile’s Corcovado National Park and Pumalín Park, both similarly sized. “The offer to the government has been made,” Kristine said. Until the state accepts the gift, the park is considered private but open to the public. A striking thing one notices while driving into Patagonia Park is herds of curious guanacos (Patagonian llamas) galloping free. Farther south, near Torres del Paine, meanwhile, it’s not uncommon to see guanaco carcasses splayed over fences; barbed wire splits habitats and prevents migration, with animals often becoming entangled as they try to leap over an enclosure. It doesn’t take long to realise that in Patagonia Park, there are no fences. S hortly after Conservacion Patagonica purchased the estancia, the organisation started its grassland recovery. “We had to buy the land with all of the livestock,” Kristine said. “We sold off the 25,000 sheep and 4,000 cattle over four years. That was hard work.” Volunteers from the world over helped take down 400 miles of fencing. The organisation also started projects to recover threatened species and protect biodiversity. As the land has been restored, wildlife has returned. The park is now home to 2,500 guanacos, 140 endangered huemul deer (only 2,000 of them exist worldwide) and 25 puma, to name a few species. The complete restoration will take decades. The well-appointed, ten-room Lodge at Valle Chacabuco (patagoniapark.org), open from October to April, makes the park accessible for stopovers. Like the park’s visitor centre and El Rincón Gaucho restaurant and bar, the lodge is made out of stone, instilling a sense of permanence. The lodge’s interior has a residential feel, with a main living room that has a soaring ceiling, deep sofas and flickering candles. There is a no-shoes policy; guests are provided with knitted slippers. Maybe it was because I was the only guest at the park, but my impression is that the lodge caters to the do-it-yourself traveller. Unless you are an experienced hiker who would be comfortable, say, fending off a mountain lion, you should go hiking only with a guide. That said, arranging one took a bit of advance work and involved extra costs. A brown-bag lunch, which I found a little difficult to procure, is also an additional expense. There are no bottles of water on-site, and the lodge does not provide guests with reusable water bottles (and there’s nowhere to get refreshments between the park and the town of Cochrane, a 30-minute drive away). It’s essential to have all of your needed clothing on hand because the lodge doesn’t sell or have any extra gear. These inconveniences, however, were a small PHOTOS LINDE WAIDHOFER 34 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
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