A cautious caver descends a heavily eroded limestone wall on Madre de Dios Island in Chilean Patagonia. The island, located off the cold, wet coast of southern Chile, is made up of coral limestone laid down near the Equator some 300 million years ago and later thrust to the surface by tectonic forces.
Stark, cold, wet, and windy, Patagonia is home to unique creatures with adaptations that help them thrive in an unforgiving region of climatic extremes.
Get a glimpse of paradise with this gallery of photographs taken on assignment for the National Geographic magazine article "French Polynesia: Charting a New Course."
