Torres del Paine National Park

When British sheep barons arrived in Patagonia over a century ago, they shipped prefabricated ranch buildings from England to the ends of the earth, reassembling them in vast and remote landscapes. These estancias, large, private plots of land used for farming or raising livestock, can span 16,000 acres or more. Torres del Paine’s working ranches still run sheep across windswept plain where gauchos (cattle herders) once employed leoneros (puma hunters paid by the kill) until the practice was outlawed in 1980. Today, these estancias balance tradition with survival, using imported Italian guard guards to protect flocks from big cats. Some of the same men who once hunted pumas for bounty now track them for conservation- proof that even centuries-old ranches can learn new tricks.