The fjords
Turquoise.
Sam Beebe — CC BY 2.0 · Bas Wallet — CC BY 2.0 · Almonroth — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Almonroth — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Winniccxx — CC BY 3.0
Pumalín Douglas Tompkins National Park covers about 402,000 hectares in Chile's Palena Province. It was created by Tompkins Conservation, founded by the American businessman Douglas Tompkins and his wife Kris, and was once Chile's largest private nature reserve. Tompkins began in 1991 by buying semi-abandoned land in the Reñihue valley, and the reserve grew and opened to the public with trails, campgrounds and visitor centres. It was declared a Nature Sanctuary in 2005, then donated to the Chilean state in 2017 to become a national park. It protects temperate rainforest and ancient alerce trees. You see long sea fjords with turquoise water between towering mountains covered in thick green forest, and white waterfalls dropping into rock pools among the ferns. Clouds often cover the peaks, and pebble beaches and calm lakes line the shores. The park centre is about 21 km from the town of Chaitén in a straight line. It rains a lot all year, so bring waterproof clothing.
Turquoise.
Among ferns.
Rainforest.
Palena Province, near Chaitén, Chile
Douglas and Kris Tompkins, who gave it to the state.
Yes, all year round.