Patagonia Expedition Race
Patagonia: The End of the Earth
Jacqueline Windh / 08.02.2005
The term “Patagonia� refers not to a country but to the region that covers the southern extreme of both Chile and Argentina. It is the land of the “Patagones�, the name that Captain Fernando Magellan gave to the native people he encountered on his voyage of discovery in 1520.In Chile, “Patagonia� is the region south of the large island of Chiloe, i.e. approximately from latitude 44ºS and southward to the island of Cape Horn at 56ºS. For reference, the city of Punta Arenas (latitude 53ºS) lies about 1000 km further south than Tasmania’s southernmost point (latitude 43ºS) and 600 km further south than the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island (latitude 47ºS). Patagonia Expedition Race is the southernmost expedition race in the world!
Southern Patagonia is a wild land of extremes – windswept pampas, oldgrowth forest of coigue and lenga (Nothofagus or southern beech trees), expansive peat bogs, lofty peaks of the southernmost extension of the Andean mountain chain, and a network of icy lakes and rivers that drain into the Pacific Ocean. Hundreds of islands are scattered along the west coast, separated by narrow channels that form an “inside passage� protected from the ocean swell – but not from the raging Patagonian winds.
On land, abundant guanacos (a small member of the llama family) and ñandu (or rhea, a large flightless bird related to the emu) wander the plains, and pumas and huemules (native Patagonian deer) inhabit the forests. In the ocean, sea-lions and dolphins are common, and humpback whales and orcas pass through the waters. See All Event Posts
