Jun

5

Trouble on Robinson Crusoe Island?

Posted by Larry Habegger

Triporati’s Chile and Argentina expert Wayne Bernhardson reports that the future is uncertain for the national park comprising the Juan Fernández Archipelago, which includes Robinson Crusoe Island. The report on his blog for Moon Guides says that the government is considering building a road from the airstrip to the village of San Juan Bautista.

Is a road from an airstrip to town such a transgression? Well, maybe if it’s through landscape Wayne describes as “one of the most scenic and solitary [walks] I’ve ever done.” Right now to go from the village to the airstrip requires a four-hour walk or a one-hour sail, but isn’t that what you’d expect on an island where castaway Alexander Selkirk lived alone for four years to become the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s famous novel, Robinson Crusoe?

Further, Wayne says the road would wipe out this trail, do incalculable damage to the flora and fauna on an island that has and needs few motorized vehicles, and wouldn’t produce a faster route into town. Who needs it?

It sure makes me want to get down there, maybe in the North American winter when the weather in the south should be milder.

Filed Under Adventure Travel, Chile, Feature, Robinson Crusoe Island, San Juan Fernández Archipelago, Travel


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