Sadly we live in a world, where each and every life form has to contribute to have a right to exist. We might call it conservation, which is in truth a trade off to exist. All over the globe in mostly small pockets, animals trade their lives by serving as photo (or worse hunting) objects to create revenue for the “owners” of the land, to buy their protection and have a right to exist.
Yet thankfully there are those people out there that involve their lives into environment protection, that not all land is “owned” and clutched by greedy claws and animals have to move or are eliminated to extinction.
In Torres del Paine, pumas and sheep farmers lived a life of enmity with pumas in the unfortunate situation to face guns and dogs. Guanacos their natural prey had been killed, to safeguard the grass for the sheep and with their food source gone, Pumas had no choice but to add sheep to their daily diet, a fact that was not tolerated by the farmers.
Luckily there are people that offered their land for the protection of the almost extinct Pumas. It took visionary Dr. C. Munn a few years to convince the farmers that there is more value in Pumas, than a herd of sheep. With Pumas having to pay for the loss of income from sheep Puma trekking was born. With years of patience and brave trackers that walked with pumas, till they lost their fear of humans finally two things happened.
- With the sheep gone the Guanacos returned.
- With the natural food source back, the pumas increased
So today we can offer a 2 – 4 day trek with pumas, observing their behaviour in the wild and literally walk with them, as they cross the arid steppes around the Torres. Having lost part of their fear of humans, we are tolerated to be there, take pictures and observe the elegant cats in the wild. There is a great sense of adventure as we walk in an appropriate distance with these beautiful and agile cats.
And the probably greatest benefit of it all, is that your trek is an important part to save these amazing creatures from being killed and erased at least in one small pocket of this wonderful world.
The xploriencer 