To stay at Explora Patagonia National Park is not merely to get off-the-beaten-track in one of South America’s most wild and beautiful regions. It is to gain a fascinating insight into one of the world's most remarkable rewilding projects.
Established at the end of 2018, the destiny of Patagonia National Park in Chile’s far flung Aysén region is intrinsically linked to that of North Face founder Doug Tompkins and his wife Kristine. Active conservationists, the Tompkins’ first visited the region in 1995 and realised that restoring the Chacabuco Valley to its natural state – and preserving it for future generations – would have untold benefits. They purchased large swathes of land in the area and, by 2004, 173,000 acres of the valley had been donated to Chile’s National Forest Corporation by the Tompkins Foundation. This area, combined with two neighbouring stretches of environmentally significant land, came together to form the Patagonia National Park.
