Los Alerces National Park (Chubut, AR)

From Bariloche (see our previous blog post), we were heading to Peninsula Valdés on the Atlantic coast of Argentina, a road trip of around 1000km. Not being very fond of spending that much time in one go in our little Polo we decided to stopover in Esquel, a small town located 4 hours' drive south of Bariloche, in order to spend an extra day visiting the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Park called "Los Alerces".

We had actually passed through Esquel on our way from Futaleufu on the Chilean side to Bariloche just over a year ago. But back then we were hitchhiking, and visiting the park was logistically a little more challenging, so we left it for another time.

The National Park was created in 1937 with the aim to protect the Alerce forests in the area. Alerces, also known as Fitzroya cupressoides (Latin) or Lahuán (Mapudungun), featured previously in our blog. They are among the largest and oldest South American trees, often compared to the North American Giant Redwoods for their impressive size, although they are two completely different species.

Unfortunately, several centuries of logging and burning since the arrival of the first Europeans have almost wiped them off the face of the earth. Around 7400 hectares of Alerce forest are protected inside Los Alerces National Park, among may other plant and animal species. We didn't come across any but it seems the park is also home to the Puma:

Our friend Sandra in front of a Puma warning sign, advising not to walk unaccompanied as a precaution

The Alerce trees are not very easily accessible, which is probably the reason why they have managed to survive in this area into the 21st century. Pretty much the only place that normal visitors can go to see them involves following a 30 km dirt road from the park's entrance, then a 30 minute hike, followed by a 2-hour boat trip across the Lago Menéndez, where a short walking circuit is setup that leads through the forest and to one particularly large specimen with an age of around 2600 years.

Patricia and Sandra on the forest circuit

The 2600 year old Alerce, 2.8m in diameter at the base, standing 57m tall

The sign also says that other specimen have been known to be more than 4000 years old

Of course, the trees are so large that it is impossible to capture them properly in a few photos, which is why we feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to experience them in their natural habitat, the Valdivian rain forest of Chile and Argentina. (o:

Another pretty impressive specimen

It was well worth the visit and a very humbling experience that reminded us how important it is to value the precious little natural heritage that is left undisturbed on this planet.