MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile promotes eco-tourism in bio-diverse Patagonia

The tours also help fund research on cetaceans

Chile's Patagonian region is home to one of the most incredibly vast expanses of virtually untouched ecosystems on the planet. Within this ecological haven lies a region known as the Aisén Region, a sprawling epicentre of glacial waterways and biodiversity, soon to be subject of a new ecotourism operation run by the Centre for Ecosystem Research in Patagonia (CIEP).

The program follows the footsteps of other ecotourism movements which have become popular throughout the U.S. and Europe.

The first tour within the Aisén Region involves boarding a sailboat called the Agartha II and touring elaborate systems of canals and islands throughout the Chonos Archipelago, where tourists aboard the ship will become involved with the ongoing study of Cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises, and whales).

Another program will take tourists near the Argentine border to the Chacabuco River where they will be able to observe and participate in an ongoing archaeological dig.

The idea behind the scientific-interactive tourist trips is to utilize the tourism industry to promote environmental conservation funding, as well as raise awareness of protected areas, while allowing tourists to still access them.

With trips costing between US$1,500 and US$4,000, there is enough leeway to include overhead charges to fund conservation and research projects which in many cases, such as that of Norwegian cetacean biologist Heike Vester, might not otherwise be funded.
“It's the only way to fund my research in Patagonia,” says Vester.

The first tour is scheduled for launch on January 20, 2011 from Coyhaique, just east of Puerto Aisén.

By Dustin Zarnikow – Santiago Times