Nahuelbuta National Park

A couple of weekends ago we went to Nahuelbuta National Park. The park is located about 500km south of Santiago and has relatively easy access (Ruta 5 for 500km to Angol and then about 30-40km on a dirt track which is mostly ok though probably 4x4 is needed in bad weather). The park is one of the few areas where the native forest that was there up to 200 years ago has not been wiped out. It consists mostly of Araucaria trees, Canelo trees and some nothofagus: coihue, Ñirre and lenga trees.


The trail in and out of the park

The general area outside the park is mostly plantations of pine and eucalyptus trees. While clearly these are commercial operations which add some value to society (we do probably want to use some paper and wood :op) there is a stark contrast in terms of biodiversity if we compare a plantation to native forest. For more detailed info on this topic, those of you who are Spanish speakers can watch the below documentary which highlights some of the environmental issues and social conflicts around plantations as well as the misleading reporting of the environmental records of the forestry industry in Chile:



 

Anyway, we chose Nahuelbuta because we had a limited amount of time during this trip and it was conveniently located for the work we had to do the following week. We didn't have too high expectations (the reserve is fairly small) nevertheless, we were very pleasantly surprised! Just as we got to the information point, one of the park rangers offered us a free tour (maybe he liked us? or maybe he just didn't want to do his round alone? or maybe they regularly offer these tours to tourists). He told us a lot about the history of the park, the flora (dominated by impressive Araucarias, see image below) and the fauna. He made us try some Canelo leaves (they are very spicy! the mapuches use the bark of this tree as we use pepper).

 

Araucaria trees and lichens



A monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria, probably about 1000 years old)
and a Coihue (probably "only" about 200 years old) growing together



We did a small (ish) trek probably about 12km in distance. Apart from the stunning trees (some of which are 1800 years old and have survived several man-made forest fires), the most interesting feature is "Piedra del Aguila" a very large rock structure which creates a very scenic view point where on days with good visibility one can see both the Andes and impressive volcanoes (including Villarrica and Sierra Velluda) as well as the Cordillera de la Costa. Most visitors, however, choose to travel by car to very near the view point, by doing this, they miss the beauty of a very unique ecosystem (see the photos for lichen covered trees):

 

An approximately 1800 year old Araucaria tree

The forest - lichens everywhere!

Piedra del Aguila view point
(not a very clear day due to several forest fires but pretty good views nevertheless!)

 Overall a very enjoyable walk and day. After leaving the park by car, we stopped at a nearby river to have a bit of a dip and get ready for a week of work:


Hard at work! :op