A few years ago, Michelle and I visited Patagonia
with our daughters.
Amongst the snow-capped mountains and crystal-clear lakes,
we marveled at an increasingly rare thing.
Untouched wilderness.
Human influence has spread far and wide across our planet.
National parks can protect what we still have.
But if we are to make a real change, we must return more of our land to nature.
In Chilean Patagonia, vast areas are being re-wilded,
returned to their natural balance
before we came along.
This region is rapidly becoming one of the most protected places on Earth.
Chilean Patagonia is home to 24 unique national parks…
across an incredible variety of landscapes.
The longest mountain range in the world,
the Andes, runs like a spine along its length.
At its heart, lush forests
and the open Patagonian steppe.
And along the coast,
the raw power of the Pacific Ocean.
Patagonia is redefining our idea
of what national parks could be.
On the western seaboard of South America lies Chile,
the longest country in the world,
stretching over 2,500 miles from north to south.
In the southern part is the remote area of Chilean Patagonia,
where huge swaths of land are given over to its 24 national parks.
The most famous of these is Torres del Paine.
Its three iconic towers dominate the landscape.
The park is home to a thriving population of Chile's largest land predator,
the puma.
This mom has four little mouths to feed.
She needs to hunt.
For the best chance of success,
she must leave the cubs behind.
Their survival depends on her stealth and cunning.
Guanaco, an ancient ancestor of the domestic llama,
and her main prey.
Blending into the landscape is her best chance of an ambush.
Four out of five puma hunts end in failure.
Compelled to find another opportunity to feed her cubs…
she will keep the family moving.
They're not the only pumas looking for food.
Close by, a younger, lone female
is also on the hunt.
From her high vantage point…
she spots a herd.
With their backs to a lake, their escape options are limited.
To bring down an animal that is up to three times heavier than her,
she'll need everything to go her way.
Battered and bruised, it's another missed opportunity.
The mom and her cubs have found the remains
of a guanaco carcass at the edge of a pond.
The hungry family grabs what they can.
The fact that it's been killed and partly buried
can only mean one thing.
This food belongs to someone else.
The lone female.
The cubs seem nervous of the stranger.
But their mother is calm.
This is her daughter from last year's litter.
The lone female reclaims her carcass.
She may be the cubs' older sister, but that doesn't mean she's keen to share.
Her soggy little brother will have to wait his turn.
Others arrive…
and are accepted at the feast.
Until recently, puma were believed to be solitary creatures.
Lions and cheetahs were thought to be the only social big cats.
The discovery of such strong social bonds
is redefining how scientists think about pumas.
The creation of this refuge has protected these cats from ranchers
who might fear for their livestock.
And it has also led to an increase in space and prey,
so there's less need for conflict between rivals.
This park is now home
to one of the highest densities of puma in the world.
And numbers of these majestic animals are slowly recovering
across southern Chile.
Three hundred miles north, along the Andean range,
lies Patagonia National Park.
One of the region's newest parks, it may look like a wilderness,
but until recently, it was used to graze sheep.
Puma and their prey, the guanaco, were persecuted here.
Now the livestock have been removed, the wildlife protected,
and the land is starting to return to its natural balance.
With puma numbers still low,
guanaco are quickly repopulating the park.
And this male is hoping to play his part.
He has traveled here in search of a good grazing territory,
impressive enough to attract females.
An all-female herd…
in an area of prime grazing.
But it has already been claimed by a huge dominant male.
And this herd isn't big enough…
…for the both of them.
The dominant male charges to show who's boss.
And he's not too big to dish out a low blow.
The bachelor is driven far from the herd…
…until finally, he takes the hint.
The victor returns to his females…
only to find
another intruder in their midst.
With the dominant male busy seeing off his new rival,
the bachelor sneaks back in…
…and seizes the opportunity…
…finally meeting his mate.
With the creation of these national parks,
agricultural fences were taken down,
allowing guanaco to travel more freely,
mixing and strengthening gene pools.
After almost a year of pregnancy,
a mother is in labor.
The baby guanaco needs to be up on her feet as fast as possible.
In a matter of just two weeks,
thousands of baby guanaco will take their first steps here.
The females all give birth within the same period
to make the most of the safety of a crowd.
Out here, you never know who's watching.
As these guanaco herds expand,
so too will the opportunities for the puma population to bounce back
and for nature to recover.
Around the world, many national parks exist
as isolated pockets of protected wilderness.
To really flourish,
animals need not only safeguarding,
but safe passage.
The ability to move freely
in search of food, a territory, or a mate.
Since 2017, Chile has been working
to connect a patchwork of wild spaces,
joining national parks with other protected reserves and marine parks
to create a network, a wildlife conservation corridor,
connecting over 30 million acres of Chilean Patagonia.
At the center of this network lies Cerro Castillo National Park,
home to a once-endangered creature now making a spectacular comeback.
The Andean condor.
Condors are scavengers.
They consume dead animals.
A role that is vital in removing waste and preventing disease.
In the past, they've been hunted and poisoned
by landowners seeking to protect their livestock.
But now the population of these magnificent birds
is bouncing back.
They nest in these inaccessible, forested cliffs.
And every day, they travel hundreds of miles
in search of food…
…leaving behind…
their vulnerable youngsters.
He might almost be the size of an adult,
but this massive chick is only nine months old.
Condors are the world's largest soaring birds.
And he could eventually have a wingspan of over ten feet.
For now though,
he's just learning how to use them.
He's getting braver.
But attempting a first flight from here would be extremely risky.
Best to head back to safety.
If he can.
His parents return.
And it's finally breakfast time.
To give him the best chance in life,
they will only raise one chick at a time.
But if all of their efforts are to pay off,
he must take to the skies himself.
Perhaps he needs to be shown how it's done.
It's time…
for his first-ever flight.
Well, it's a start.
Better.
These birds are too heavy to fly by flapping alone.
To stay aloft and travel long distances,
he must learn to ride the wind.
His parents lead him into the air currents and rising hot air thermals.
Their chick will stay with them for up to two years.
Until then, he'll be stretching his wings daily,
growing stronger, until he too can soar over the Andes.
Six hundred miles further north,
the landscape begins to change.
Here, it's dominated by volcanoes.
They scar the land with lava flows…
…between which grow primeval forests.
At the very northern edge, lies Conguillío National Park,
one of the last strongholds for the endangered Araucaria,
the monkey puzzle tree.
Growing to over 150 feet,
these giants were once a common sight across northern Patagonia.
But they were cut down to make way for farmland
and now only exist in small pockets of ancient woodland.
In the shadows of the monkey puzzle trees are the delicate beech forests…
home to animals found nowhere else on Earth.
The pudu…
the world's smallest deer.
This spotted baby could fit into the palm of your hand.
And the smallest wildcat of the Americas.
The kodkod isn't even as big as a pet cat.
Along with these miniature mammals,
the Valdivian forest
is also home to one of the most spectacular insects in the world.
The Chilean stag beetle…
named for the incredible antler-like jaws found on the males.
This one has picked up the scent of a female.
But she is 100 feet up
in the canopy of a beech tree.
For him, that's the equivalent of a person climbing the Eiffel Tower.
Twice.
Her seductive fragrance can be detected by males far and wide.
And the race is on.
Finally, he reaches the canopy ahead of his rivals…
…with the female in his sights.
But he has a challenger.
They size each other up.
Now, those huge weapons come into their own.
One of the largest weapons to body size of any animal that has ever lived.
They have evolved to grasp
and lift.
His opponent strikes first.
But he turns the tables
and gets the upper hand.
Finally, there's nothing between him and his mate.
As dusk falls over the park,
we are reminded of our place in the universe.
By carefully managing light pollution,
the celestial views above the reserves
have remained some of the darkest on Earth.
On a clear night, you can see the planets
of the solar system…
the stars of the Milky Way,
and the distant glow of our closest neighboring galaxies.
Even with the naked eye.
And under the cover of darkness,
one nocturnal forest resident is helping his home to regenerate.
Using new camera technology,
we can reveal his nighttime antics.
The monito del monte.
The "little monkey of the mountain."
But the monito isn't a monkey. He's a marsupial.
And although he is tiny…
these giant trees depend on him.
He will eat his entire body weight in food every night.
During his lifetime, he will help spread at least 20 different species of plant
by eating the fruits…
and dropping the seeds in new places.
As dawn begins to break,
he returns to his hidden nest to sleep.
And he is not alone.
These communal nests can contain up to ten unrelated monitos
huddling together.
With the help of these "little monkeys of the mountain,"
it is possible that a huge Valdivian forest
will once again stretch from the Andean mountains
to the Pacific Ocean.
Chile has more than 4,000 miles of winding Pacific coastline.
During the last ice age,
glaciers descended from the mountaintops to the sea.
As they moved,
they carved Patagonia's maze of deep coastal fjords.
Relatively few of these icy giants remain.
This is the San Rafael glacier.
Every spring, an ethereal song echoes around these fjords.
It's the haunting call of a male leopard seal.
He's here to take advantage of the icebergs to breed…
…and will sing day and night to attract a mate…
…skillfully crafting his love songs to incorporate a range of notes
and a variety of pitch.
Elements of his tuneful repertoire can be heard far and wide.
A female…
…tunes into the male's song.
During the short breeding season,
leopard seals sing underwater all through the night.
Worn out from her nighttime courtship, she rests on the ice.
The serenade is enticing.
She approaches.
Only to find
her would-be suitor…
…isn't actually awake.
Scientists believe that during the breeding season,
leopard seals have such high levels of surging hormones…
…they even call while sleeping.
As the sun starts to sink…
…he finally wakes up.
And they retreat beneath the ice to begin their courtship duet.
Whilst almost half of Chilean Patagonia's land is protected,
less than a fifth of its coastal waters are.
Seventy miles off the southern tip of mainland Chile
lie the sub-Antarctic Islands of Diego Ramírez,
one of Patagonia's few marine protected areas.
Off its shores, three oceans collide.
The Pacific to the west…
Atlantic to the east,
and to the south, the brutal Southern Ocean.
Despite being surrounded by some of the most treacherous seas in the world,
this place is brimming with life.
The islands offer a safe haven for over two million nesting seabirds.
Colonies of albatross carve rivers through the thick tussock grass.
It's one of the world's few albatross colonies not in decline,
due to the lack of predators on the island
and the ban on fishing within the marine park.
Not all animals that live here have the luxury of arriving by air.
Southern rockhopper penguins nest here too.
Penguin parents must take turns traveling hundreds of miles
in search of food for their hungry chicks.
They can be away for up to three days at a time.
But the most dangerous part of their journey
is the return.
Thrown by the swell to the shore.
Though the ocean is the least of their worries.
South American sea lions patrol these waters.
For every fishing party that returns…
…some won't make it.
A mother penguin runs the gauntlet
to return to her family.
But these sea lions swim three times faster.
Her best chance of survival…
…is to get out of the water.
Safe at last.
Maybe not.
A narrow escape.
And now, the arduous climb back to the nest.
Just to feed their little one,
every penguin parent must put their life on the line…
taking turns making this trip for another six months,
until their chick is able to run the sea lion gauntlet.
This marine park now protects over 55,000 square miles of ocean…
and extends the wildlife conservation corridor of Chilean Patagonia
out toward the protected waters of Antarctica.
This network of parks now protects over 200 species of birds and mammals
across an astonishing variety of landscapes.
It's helping bring animals back from the brink of extinction.
But it's not just wildlife that is benefiting.
Ecotourism is predicted to bring hundreds of millions of dollars
to the local economy over the next ten years.
And it will have a far greater benefit
to every being on our planet.
In the fight against climate change,
this land and vegetation act like a sponge,
absorbing carbon dioxide,
making the region one of the largest carbon sinks in South America.
Give nature a chance and it will return.
Wilderness and wildlife can recover,
and balance can be restored.
Chilean Patagonia is an inspiring example
of what can be achieved when we work together with nature
and believe in the true value of our national parks.