Kaleidoscope Travel Blog

Travel news, holiday tips, Chilean culture & history, how to travel in style and be eco chic along the way! The kaleidescope features interesting vacation and fun facts which can help you with your travel plans or give you an insight into something fresh. Any ideas you'd like to see written about please send an email to media@cascada.travel. If you're keen to get kaleidoscope updates subscribe to our Feed or via Email.

Wildlife in Chile: Where to see a Huemul

The South Andean Deer or huemul (pronounced way-mool) is a true icon of Chilean fauna, appearing alongside the condor on Chile’s official coat of arms. Yet it is also endangered and threatened with extinction, with around 15,000 individuals left in the wilds of Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia. This week however, there was a small ray of hope for the gentle huemul, as a new study from Cambridge University reported an increase in the huemul population of Chile’s Bernardo O’Higgins’ National Park. To celebrate this small step forward for our hoofed friends, we’re taking a look at where to spot a huemul in Chile!

Patagonia Tours: In Seach of Patagonia's Human History

Patagonia is usually seen as a place of monumental landscapes, uninhabited expanses of grassland, forests or glaciers, a land devoid of human influence. Yet if we look a little closer we see that Patagonia has a complex human history that stretches back far into the unseen past, a history that we can still find traces of today. When the first European explorers reached the far south of the Latin American continent they found large footprints and saw tall figures on the shores, dubbing them the Patagon giants. Unfortunately, although many of the region’s indigenous peoples were only contacted by Europeans for the first time in the late 19th Century, most disappeared before it was possible to learn and record much about them. However it is still possible to find clues to their existence tucked away in the vast wilds of Patagonia.

Hiking in Torres del Paine - The Best Inspirational Videos

If you’re wishing the days away dreaming about your next wild hiking vacation then you need to take a look at our selection of videos showing hiking adventures in Chilean Patagonia’s world famous Torres del Paine National Park. We’ve got videos to excite your imagination whether you’re a solo traveller, an adrenaline addict, or just a bunch of friends looking for their next adventure. But be warned, no matter who you are, we guarantee that once you’ve watched these videos you won’t be able to rest until you’ve booked your own hiking tour in Torres del Paine National Park!

Top 10 Patagonia Romantic Moments EcoCamp 2012/13

Now that EcoCamp's 2012/13 season is over we're looking back at some of our best photos of the season! We brought you our Top 10 Patagonia group photos EcoCamp 2012/13 highlighting the best photos from our group contest which ran throughout the season. What did you think, any photos missing we should have featured? This week we bring you the Top 10 Patagonia Romantic Moments EcoCamp 2012/13! Patagonia itself is a mystical place with a certain romantic allure and these couples show us how to do romance in the wilderness!

Atacama Desert Tours: Top 10 Adventures in Pictures!

The Atacama Desert straddles Chile’s northern borders with Bolivia, Peru and even Argentina. It’s known as the driest desert on Earth, but if that conjures up images of miles and miles of empty wasteland, it’s time to take a fresh look. Although some areas of the Atacama Desert are indeed parched - and are all the more fascinating for it - the landscape of the Atacama Desert is so rich and varied that you’re always surprised by something new. Steaming volcanoes, choppy salt flats, sky-high lakes and gurgling geysers are all within reach on your Atacama Desert tour. Here’s our pick of what not to miss!

Chilean Patagonia Tours: Inside the Mylodon's Cave

A visit to the Mylodon’s Cave in Chilean Patagonia is often billed as a way to break up the long overland journey from Punta Arenas airport to Torres del Paine National Park. The shallow cave was the site of the 1895 discovery of a large piece of what turned out to be giant sloth, or mylodon, skin. Today, the cave is preserved as a monument to the discovery of the mylodon but since most of the remains are no longer within the cave itself, is it really worth the visit? And rather than thinking of the cave as a stop-off on the way to Torres del Paine, does it deserve to be seen as an attraction in its own right? We went to find out, and the answer was a resounding yes!

Top 5 Chile Tours in Winter

The sun may still be shining brightly here in Chile, but winter in the southern hemisphere is just around the corner. The winter months of June to August will soon be upon us, but if you’re planning a Chile tour for 2013, that doesn’t mean you have to wait until September to get moving. In fact, Chile’s extraordinarily varied landscape means that there’s as much to do in Chile during winter as at any other time of year. We’ve picked out our very favourite Chile tours for winter!

Top 10 Patagonia group photos EcoCamp 2012/13

EcoCamp's 2012/13 season is now a wrap! Thanks to all the wonderful guests who've stayed this year and of course the staff for making the EcoCamp experience possible! Throughout the season we ran a photo contest and encouraged you and your guides to send in the best group photos taken during excursions, here's our rundown of the Top 10! Check out the original photos on facebook to meet the people having such a great time in the photos!

Visit Chile: Exploring Chilean Cocktails

Chile is known the world over for the quality and affordability of its wines. But if wine on its own isn’t your tipple of choice, you shouldn’t assume that Chile has nothing to offer you. With an abundance of fresh, seasonal fruit and a rich culinary heritage, Chile is also home to a wide range of original cocktails. Here we take a look at some of Chile’s best drinks!

Livia’s Patagonia viagem!

Together with her colleagues Lorena, Paulina and Maike, our resident brasileña Livia travelled to EcoCamp Patagonia to enjoy some summer sun in Torres del Paine National Park at the season’s end! Here she shares her photo diary with us...

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