Chile unveils Patagonian Route of Parks scenic trail - BBC News
It connects 17 national parks and runs for 2,800km (1,740 miles) through sparsely populated land.
Chile has launched a huge scenic route through its Patagonian wilderness to boost tourism and highlight the need for conservation.

The Route of Parks covers 2,800km (1,740 miles) from the city of Puerto Montt down to Cape Horn.

The trail was the idea of Tompkins Conservation, the foundation set up by US billionaire Douglas Tompkins and his wife Kristine.

Last year the foundation donated vast amounts of land to Chile's government.

The land has helped create a network of 17 national parks and the new route - called the Patagonian Route of Parks - connects all of them.

"We want Chile to be internationally recognised for having the most spectacular scenic route in the world, and thus become a benchmark for economic development based on conservation," said Carolina Morgado, executive director at Tompkins.

A website for the new route says it encompasses three existing scenic routes - the Southern Way, the Patagonian channels and the End of the World Route.

The sparsely inhabited terrain is known for its lakes, waterways and rich habitat of flora and fauna.

Chile's network of national parks is a haven for wildlife

The website includes advice on transport, accommodation and more than 50 GPS-traced paths.

Mr Tompkins, a keen conservationist and the founder of North Face clothing, died in a kayaking accident in Chile in 2015. The businessman had bought up huge swathes of land in southern Chile and Argentina to preserve it.

His widow, Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, signed an agreement with the national government in March 2017, donating the land with the intention of creating a network of national parks roughly the size of Switzerland.

Douglas Tompkins and his wife Kristine, pictured in 2009, were keen conservationists

Then Chilean President Michelle Bachelet called the signing an "unprecedented preservation effort".

The foundation described it as "the largest land donation in history from a private entity to a country".

The Great Himalaya Trail attracts tens of thousands of trekkers every year