Damn Beaver Dams

The Circuito Dientes de Navarino is a hiking route that allows you to roam for five days through the deepest wilderness in southern Tierra del Fuego. The starting point, Puerto Williams, is the southernmost settlement on earth, after which there are only mountains, lakes and forests. While hiking the loop with an Israeli in January 2018, we were impressed by the rugged wild landscape. The shores of the lakes looked bizarre because beavers had gnawed down the surrounding trees and built dams with their limbs. The animals which had been introduced to the area in the 1940s had overpopulated it because there were no natural predators in the area. In Puerto Williams we were told to note the position if we spotted one. Many beavers, as protective measures for nature, had already been killed in the past few years. Despite the destruction left by these animals, I found it one of the most fascinating natural landscapes I have experienced in my travels.

Isla Navarino (Chile), January 2018