Ancestral Paths to Mountain Bike Trails: How the Mapuche-Pehuenche are Redefining Sustainable Adventure Tourism in Chile
Discover how Chile's Indigenous Mapuche-Pehuenche communities are welcoming mountain bikers into their sacred landscapes, blending ancient traditions with sustainable adventure tourism.
Photo by Hass Salum
Beneath a towering canopy of ancient Araucanía trees, Victor Abarzua and Aldo Torres snap on their helmets and mount their bikes. As they glide down the age-old trail, sunlight filters through the forest, casting their silhouettes in a golden ray of light. Every twist and turn of the ride feels like magic. For this forest is not just a path to be ridden; it’s a living history, its roots entwined with the stories of the Mapuche people and the sacred wisdom of the past. As their tires carve into the earth, a plume of dust rises like smoke, drifting toward the treetops. Adrenaline surges through them, but so does a deep sense of reverence. Here, mountain biking becomes more than a sport—it’s a ritual, a celebration that bridges past and future, and builds connection between man and nature.
For the past ten years, Victor has been working with the local Indigenous Mapuche community to transform Icalma, a relatively remote and unknown region of Chile, into a sustainable tourism destination offering Mountain biking as the primary tool. It has not been an easy journey as Victor came to Icalma—a community that is 99% Indigenous—as an outsider and had to take time to develop relationships and, more importantly, to build trust. For Icalma is not just any place; it is a sacred place, one that is worth protecting, adding an extra layer of complexity to sustainably and responsibly developing tourism in this part of Chile.
Icalma: A remote, sacred, magical backdrop
Nestled in the heart of Central Chile’s Araucanía Region, just under 135 kilometers east of Temuco and near the Argentine border, Icalma is a place where the land remains wild, raw, and seemingly untouched by time. The region is renowned for its striking natural beauty—lush forests, pristine glacial lakes, and awe-inspiring volcanoes that have shaped the landscape for over 200 million years. Surrounding areas such as Huerquehue and Conguillío National Parks, along with Chile's first UNESCO Geopark, Kütralkura, help safeguard these ecosystems of rivers, lakes, and forests. This area is home to the world’s highest concentration of Araucaria trees—also known as “Monkey Puzzle” trees—for which the region is named.
Photos by Hass Salum
These ancient trees hold deep cultural and spiritual significance for the Indigenous Mapuche-Pehuenche people, whose name, “Pehuenche,” means “people of the pehuén.” Pehuén is the local name for the Araucanía (Araucaria araucana). For generations, the Araucaria has been a vital source of food, identity, and resilience. In the 1990s, the Mapuche-Pehuenche led a successful movement to halt deforestation and protect the sacred forests, continuing their centuries-old stewardship of the land. Their efforts not only preserved a unique ecosystem but also reinforced the deep connection between cultural heritage and environmental conservation, shaping a future where traditional knowledge and responsible tourism can coexist.
Meet Victor, the visionary
Photo by Hass Salum
It is within this backdrop that Victor Abarzua, a former professional basketball player, has slowly developed sustainable adventure tourism. Victor was born in Temuco and first came to Icalma as a child, spending summers at his family’s cabin. While studying veterinary science and playing professional basketball in his twenties, he began to feel disconnected from city life and increasingly drawn to Icalma.
“Every time I was there, it felt like home, and I never wanted to leave,” Victor said.
He started spending summers in Icalma, renting out kayaks, and eventually realized that the land felt more like home than anywhere else. Near the end of his university studies, Victor made a life-changing decision: to leave school and his basketball career behind and move permanently to Icalma. In 2014, he built Icalma Lodge on his family’s land and began building a life rooted in nature and local community.
Building trust with the Mapuche Elders
Photo by Hass Salum
During his free time, Victor explored the area on a bike and discovered his true passion: Mountain Biking. While exploring trails by bike, he met Don Julio, a Mapuche elder whose land held ancestral paths. Their friendship became foundational—not just for building trails, but for learning about the culture, traditions, and stories of the place.
Slowly over time, Victor gained Don Julio’s trust and was granted permission to develop mountain biking trails using existing routes. The trails, used traditionally by Mapuche for daily work, were ideal for biking due to their design, well-draining soil, and forested terrain.
The Cultural Shift: A new generation of riders
During the pandemic, Victor met Aldo, a young Mapuche man and a university student studying environmental law who also loved mountain biking and was working to build trails on his parents’ land. Together, the two spent their days exploring the sacred Batea Mahuida volcano in search of new trails and sharing ideas of how to maintain the trails and preserve this special place, both on an environmental and cultural level.
“We immediately saw that Icalma had incredible potential for mountain biking—the landscape felt like it was made for it,” Victor said. The existing trails, many of them ancient and woven through dense forests, open meadows, and along pristine lakeshores, offered a ready-made network that required no new environmental disruption. The terrain is naturally suited to biking: the forests are easy to navigate, the trails are abundant, and the unique, fast-draining soil provides excellent grip without turning to mud. This combination of diverse scenery and ideal conditions transforms each ride into a deeper experience of exploration and connection with nature.
As Victor and Aldo worked together, the community gradually realized that sustainable tourism could be a new path forward. If done responsibly, tourism can bring numerous benefits, including increased income, cultural preservation, environmental conservation, and empowerment of youth and women.
While there are many challenges with developing tourism, including protecting this fragile ecosystem and preserving Mapuche culture, Aldo and Victor believe that together as a community, they can succeed.
“The preservation of the natural environment is vital to the community’s identity and the uniqueness of the tourist experience,” says Aldo.
“We have helped other members of the community get involved, like Matildes,” who, together with her daughter, run their restaurant Ruka-Mahuida, serving traditional Mapuche meals using locally sourced pine nuts for riders on our trails. They are even involving the local children by getting them outside and excited about biking and tourism. “We envision a place where you look around and you see children out on bikes, embracing the landscape and sport just like us,” smiles Victor. “And for that to happen, we want more travelers to come, ones who appreciate, respect, and have a desire to learn about our culture while also enjoying the incredible experience of riding the ancient trails on sacred land”.
Photos by Hass Salum
