Patagonians are up in arms over land purchases by adventure tourists

[jpak]

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=&fArticleId=3803053

Santiago - Douglas Tompkins flies a single-engine plane into a narrow fjord in Patagonia, past sheer cliffs blanketed by ancient coihue trees and ferns the size of beach umbrellas. Snow-covered Andean peaks knife into the sky. This is Tompkins's backyard, and he's spent $50 million (R351 million) to turn it into a park as large as Yosemite National Park in California.

Tompkins, who co-founded and then sold outdoor gear maker North Face and fashion company Esprit Holdings, has spent $200 million to buy more than 809 400ha of Patagonia from more than 150 landowners to save it from development.

"There's only one world spinning around in space; it's all we have," says Tompkins.

Patagonia, a swath of mountains, rivers and grasslands in Argentina and Chile, is one of the world's last great untouched frontiers.

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