thephotosocietyのインスタグラム(thephotosociety) - 12月22日 00時49分

Photo: @momatiukeastcott/@thephotosociety | fences | The fences are everywhere, even though we seldom see any sheep. Patagonia, this hard country blindingly light in summer and blotted dark in winter, has been overgrazed and stripped of much of its vegetation cover. Ancient trees were cut and burned, tall grasses snipped off by domestic stock, and now the erosion kicks its dusty heels every time the wind blows, which is pretty much all the time.

Patagonia's grasslands used to feed millions of wild herbivores but intensive sheep ranching introduced in the early 20th century soon turned the steppe into nearly bare expanses of overtaxed land. And not unlike in some parts of Africa, this man-made desertification created dead zones for all herbivores, domestic and wild.

We camp near Torres del Paine in Chile, and morning comes roaring with wind and exploding with condors. The birds tumble down like broken black umbrellas toward a sheep carcass we never noticed but they, all keen eyes and barely twitching tips of their long flight feathers, do not miss. And soon tour buses disgorge Patagonia-mad travelers who line up along the fence and point their cameras at the birds. Everybody has a picture taking device: if you do not photograph, you do not earn your keep on Digital Earth.
This must be a part of some grand design. First, you fence the land to keep your livstock in and other people out. Then you build roads and hotels, and invite diesel spewing tour buses and expectant rows of onlookers with cameras, cell phones and tablets, standing side by side to capture what is often essentially the same picture. You could even get condors, who may well be on retainer. There are more improvements: rough roads get paved, stores in towns stock German wild boar marinates and guanaco jerky, and new cafes sprout behind corrugated tin walls and offer free Wi-Fi and tasty local beer. And all of this means you can see what you are supposed to see, but the fences make sure you do not stray.
#momatiukeastcott #condor #Patagonia #Torres del Paine #Chile #bones #birds #fences #mountains

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