The Wild Andes

The Patagonia region is filled with vast glaciers, towering peaks, volcanoes, and prehistoric forests, forming a backdrop to the lives of condors, foxes and pumas; the Valdivian rainforest is home to a secret world of creatures found nowhere else.

The Altiplano sits at more than 12,000 feet above sea level, a vast, treeless plateau with thin air, toxic soda lakes and weather that can turn at the drop of a hat; related to the alpaca, the vicuna has evolved to survive in these conditions.

In a northern stretch of the Andes, tectonic forces coupled with downpours have carved sharp peaks and deep valleys, each one an isolated pocket of evolution; high in the cloud forest lives the olinguito which was identified by scientists in 2013.