Centurion Singapore Winter 2022

|Places| Days are spent

|Places| Days are spent tracking pumas and guanacos on the steppe, spotting rare birds in dense lenga forests and alongside a glittering lagoon, or on a hike to Huemul Post lodges from the Chilean adventure outfitter (others are spread across Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina), the structure was built using recycled and locally sourced materials from old farms in southern Chile, and the on-the-ground experience, combining these older woodwork elements with strong wifi connectivity, plush creature comforts and cuisine by renowned chef Pablo Jesús Rivero, straddles the line between rustic and contemporary. While the lodge first began welcoming visitors in November of 2021, the property – and the park itself – is just a small part of a very, very big vision: most notably that of the late Doug Tompkins and his wife, Kris. With founding credits to clothing brands like The North Face and Patagonia, the couple’s true mission has long been conservation, a project which began in 1990 when Doug purchased 1.5 million hectares of land in Patagonia – whose environment, at the time, was threatened by widescale logging – with the idea of maintaining the majesty of the landscape for future generations in the form of national parks. This goal came to fruition in 2018 with the enshrinement of five Chilean national parks (and the expansion of three existing ones), including Patagonia National Park, which combined Tompkins-donated hectares with two existing parks. Much has already been done to rewild this natural wonderland. Once the domain of sheep farmers, whose woolly herds obliterated the grasslands, rewilding techniques were applied to allow local flora and fauna – including cougars, Andean condors and Darwin’s rheas – to flourish. Gauchos once tasked with killing pumas were hired to monitor the progress. Following the park’s establishment, Chile’s national forestry agency continues these efforts in collaboration with Tompkins Conservation. From left: El Chaltén, Explora‘s lodge in Argentinean Patagonia; a suite at El Chaltén looks out onto the Eléctrico river; a perfectly framed view of San Lorenzo mountain on an Explora Patagonia National Park expedition; previous page: a snapshot of the vast grasslands in Patagonia National Park PHOTOS © EXPLORA 18 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM

Beyond Patagonia Explora’s portfolio also includes a number of lodges in fascinating sites across this corner of South America, from the desert plateau of Chile’s Atacama desert to the awe-inspiring Uyuni salt flats of Bolivia, from the mysterious Easter Island to Peru’s Sacred Valley. explora.com Above: a rustic-chic Explora Patagonia National Park suite; below: a huemul makes its way through Patagonia National Park And today, Explora guests get a front-row seat to the fruits of those endeavours. After winning a public tender to manage the tourism and hospitality elements across the entire park for the next 25 years, Explora entered the scene as steward in 2020. It was a natural fit for the now fully carbon-neutral B Corp with a longstanding commitment to the local environment. The menu of explorations on offer is as diverse as the landscape itself. Led by intrepid guides – all graduates of the Explora Guide School, a rigorous two- to threemonth boot camp – days are spent tracking pumas and guanacos on the steppe, spotting rare birds in dense lenga forests and alongside a glittering lagoon, or on a hike to Huemul Post, a basecamp for the protection of the endangered deer so emblematic of the region that it even appears on Chile’s coat of arms. But the Patagonia National Park outpost wasn’t Explora’s only mark on the region in the past years. Just one month after the former’s unveiling, it launched a new riverside lodge, El Chaltén, across the border in Argentinean Patagonia. Positioned at the heart of the 6,000ha Los Huemules Conservation Reserve, the remotely built chalet boasts 20 rooms and suites with jaw-dropping panoramas of Marconi Glacier and the Eléctrico river valley, giving guests a great overview of the adventures ahead – there are more than 30 excursions on offer here. It’s a finely tuned recipe for adventure Explora has been honing for nearly 30 years – since the debut of its first lodge in 1993, a 49-key chalet at the wild heart of Torres del Paine National Park, facing the placid shores of Lake Pehoé and the craggy snowcapped peaks of Paine Massif beyond. These days, many guests opt for the 12-day Explora Connect journey, which offers a rare, 360-degree view of Patagonia with stays in all three lodges (or an eight-day combination of any two). It’s a whirlwind snapshot of one of the world’s most beautiful, fierce and fragile corners – and one that may be your journey, like the Tompkinses’, of falling in love with the region. CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 19