‘Puma cubs,’ whispers Facundo, our guide through the immense, rugged steppe of Argentinian Patagonia. He crouches down and circles a cluster of frankly adorable little paw prints in the dust. ‘I lost the tracks for a little while, but here they are – and they’re fresh. We’re near!’
Facundo Epul is 27 and wears a boina, a traditional Argentinian beret. He’s currently the only guide in Argentina offering puma-tracking tours ($250/£210 per group per day, @elchoiqueguia).
It’s a slightly more common profession across the border in Chile, but tourism is still in its infancy here in the Parque Patagonia Argentina, a national park 1,300 miles south-west of Buenos Aires (parquepatagoniaargentina.org).
The vastness is what strikes you when you arrive – it amplifies everything. The semi-arid steppe seems to go on, and on, and on – relenting only to dive into a deep, dramatic canyon or rise up to a volcanic plateau. The winds blow harder here, the amber sunsets are stunningly intense, and the stars sparkle vividly each night, their light undimmed by pollution.
The area we’re in is relatively well known in Argentina, if only for Cueva de las Manos, the Unesco-protected Cave of the Hands, where you can visit perfectly preserved, 9,300-year-old hand paintings on the walls above the sublime Pinturas Canyon.
But the park also benefits from being situated on Route 40, a legendary highway and bucket-list road trip that runs 3,107 miles from the top of Argentina to the bottom.
It was only in 2014 that the area was given national park status, after Fundación Rewilding Argentina began buying and restoring abandoned farmland, then donating it to the province (rewildingargentina.org).
They’ve been restoring the ecosystem here for over a decade now – boosting the numbers of Andean condors, pumas, guanacos (the ever-present ancestors of the llama) and lesser rhea – comical, ostrich-like creatures that kick up dust as they sprint chaotically around the steppe.
‘We’re restoring complete and fully functioning ecosystems,’ explains Sebastián Di Martino of Rewilding Argentina, ‘including all the species which used to inhabit the environment historically – and in numbers big enough that they can properly fulfil their ecological roles.’
The addition of a 25-mile trail network by the Freyja Foundation (freyjafoundation.org), plus new lodges and campsites, means more people have been visiting, too – though the only crowds you’ll see are herds of guanacos. They lounge outside our converted ranch in the heart of the park (£112pp pn, lapostadelostoldos.com), nibbling on shrubs, with one eye open for pumas.
Rewilding Argentina’s vision is to keep expanding the park, to create a wildlife corridor linking Parque Patagonia in Argentina to the adjacent Parque Nacional Patagonia in Chile.
We hike onwards, sweating in the 30C heat. Facundo forges our path along the edge of a canyon, which drops steeply down to the valley floor on our right. But, despite our silence, the pumas evade us – that is, until we sit down for lunch, and see a huge cat napping in a cave, 150ft away.
I sit down with a bag of trail mix and watch it sleep. Pumas are the top of the food chain here. As we hike, we pass guanaco skeleton after guanaco skeleton – left by pumas and plucked clean by condors; scavengers who rely on the big cat’s leftovers.
‘The only animal that can kill a puma is a puma,’ Facundo tells me – though their main predator here is actually cattle ranchers, who perceive the puma as a threat to their livestock, and pay ‘leoneros’ to hunt and kill the animals. ‘But times are changing,’ says Facundo, who grew up on a local ranch.
‘The rewilding project is giving the ranchers dogs to protect their sheep, which they are happy with.’ This particular puma has found a safe spot in the shade, dozing in one of these almighty canyon cracks, which feels so timeless – a sentiment only heightened by the cave paintings within.
We later join Claudio Figueroa, another local guide of ex-ranching stock, and hike to Alero Charcamata ($60/£50pp, zoyenturismo.com.ar), a huge rocky underhang where more cave paintings await.
Whereas there is some infrastructure in place at Cueva de las Manos, and guests wear helmets, there are no such safety measures here. It’s raw – like it was discovered yesterday.
‘There aren’t many places left that you can visit without human interference,’ says Claudio. Ancient paintings of guanacos and pumas are dotted among the handprints – the paint a mixture of water, blood and natural sediments, sprayed on to the wall through guanaco bones.
Parque Patagonia is a place where the past is preserved, and the future is being re-imagined. ‘It’s not just bringing back species,’ says Sebastián Di Martino. ‘It’s building a new economy for locals, through guiding, housing, local meals, handicrafts, which depend on a healthy ecosystem.’
The landscape is ancient but ever-changing. Today,the sons of ranchers guide tourists to see animals hunted by the previous generation. And on the steppe and as you hike the canyons, among guanacos, pumas and condors, Parque Patagonia feels alive – roaring with new, ancient life.
Three more Argentine rewilding projects
Iberá National Park
The flagship project of Rewilding Argentina is in the Iberá wetlands, an expanse of 1.3million hectares, which is also the largest nature reserve in the country. Conservationists have been working in the area since the 1990s, with red-and-green macaws, giant anteaters, giant otters and jaguars all reintroduced, making it a wildlife-watcher’s dream.
Patagonia Azul
Off the coast of the Chubut province, this ocean project is helping restore a marine ecosystem. These waters are key breeding colonies for endangered species like the magellanic penguin, and there’s great surfing, world-class diving – with shipwrecks to discover on the ocean floor – and mountain-biking trails, all accessible from the sleepy fishing town of Camarones.
El Impenetrable National Park
The ‘impenetrable’ region of Gran Chaco contains the second-largest continuous forest in South America, behind only the Amazon. Rewilding Argentina began work in the area in 2011, creating a national park that is home to tapirs, marsh deer, red-footed tortoises and jaguars. Visitors can hike the otherworldly forests and paddle the vast waters.
Getting there: Return flights from London to Buenos Aires from £682, lufthansa.com; return to Comodoro flights from £128, aerolineas.com.ar
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