Torres del Paine

Declared in 1959, it is the most emblematic national park in Chilean Patagonia. Its name combines the Spanish torres, towers, with paine, which in the indigenous Tehuelche language means blue, after the colour of its glacial lakes. The three granite towers it is named for were formed some 12 million years ago when magma forced its way up through older sedimentary rock, which later erosion wore away to leave the granite spires standing. It has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1978 and holds one of the best-studied puma densities in the world, thanks to decades of research that have made the park a global model for how mountain tourism and big-cat conservation can sit together.