Explore Argentina
When visiting natural parks and wild areas, always try to be environmentally responsible. Stick to marked trails, camp only at authorized sites, take all litter with you (don’t burn it), bury toilet waste at least 30m away from all water sources and use detergents and toothpastes as sparingly as possible, choosing biodegradable options such as glycerine soap. Above all, pay particular respect to the fire risk. Every year, fires destroy huge swathes of forest, and virtually all of these are started by hand: some deliberately, but most because of unpardonable negligence. As ever, one of the prime culprits is the cigarette butt, often casually tossed out of a car window, but just as bad are campfires, both those that are poorly tended and those that are poorly extinguished. Woodland becomes tinder-dry in summer droughts, and, especially in places such as Patagonia, it is vulnerable to sparks carried by the strong winds. Once started, winds, inaccessibility and limited water resources can turn fires into infernos that blaze for weeks on end, and much fire-damaged land never regenerates its growth. Many parks have a complete ban on lighting campfires and trekkers are asked to take stoves on which to do their cooking; please respect this. Others ban fires during high-risk periods. The most environmentally responsible approach is to avoid lighting campfires at all: even dead wood has a role to play in often-fragile ecosystems. If you do need to light one, never choose a spot on peaty soil, as peat, once it has caught, becomes virtually impossible to put out. Choose a spot on stony or sandy soil, use only fallen wood and always extinguish the fire with water, not earth, stirring up the ashes to ensure all embers are quenched.
Read More
