Travel South America Skiing Adventures

Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina

** Iguazu National Park ** Iguazu Bird Park ** Los Glaciers National Park **
** Tierra del Fuego National Park ** Iguazu Falls **

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Situated at the foot of the Andes, The Nahuel Huapi National Park gets its name from the Lake of the same name. Derived from the Mapuche language, Nahuel means Tiger and Huapi means Island. The Lake is enormous covering about 150,000 acres and going down to a depth of 464 metres at its deepest point.

In total the park covers an area of 2,927 square miles of the Río Negro and Neuquén provinces, and is an ideal place for nature lovers and sports enthusiasts alike. The landscape is very diverse stretching from the Patagonia steppes (flatlands) to the peak of the Andes on its western side, the border with Chile.

The range of habitats in the Park is immense, encompassing diverse landscapes from the sub-Antartic to the high Andes. There is a vast array of connecting waterways and Lakes as well as lowland forest in which there are cipreses, ñires, lengas, coihues, notros, guindos, lauras, arrayanes, radales, alerces, bamboo and maitenes.
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To the east are the sterile flatlands (pampas?) of the lowland Patagonia. Going further west the lowland forests give way to the neneo and the coiron trees, which in turn give way to the valdivian cold forests. These forests support some fantastic trees such as coihues, mñiu, laura and alerce, as well as varieties of lianas such as the pahueldin and pil pil voqui. The flora includes notros, (red colored), mutisias and the amancay, with its typical yellow flowers. The damp undergrowth is predominantly over-run by the caña colihue and ferns.

This impressive variety of country is home to such wildlife as native perch with river otter and the hullin (a carnivore mink), by the lakes and rivers; raptors, guanaco, rhea and patagonian hare live on the steppes and up in the mountains there are condor, puma and huemul. In the dense undergrowth there are pudu and chucao and the wetlands are home to lapwing and Andean geese, to name but a few.
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Regardless of the time of year, there is always something to do or see there. For the winter sports enthusiasts there is skiing in the resort of Cerro Catedral, or snow shoe hiking or glacier climbing, as well as a chance to experience a rare opportunity to ski trek across part of the Catedral mountain range from Cerro Catedral to the snow line to be met by horses and to ride down to an estancia situated in the valley below on the edge of the continental divide.

At different times of the year, the lakes in the area are ideal for fly-fishing, boating, rafting and diving. For those who prefer dry land there is horse riding, mountain biking, trekking, bird-watching. and paragliding. Please just ask about any of the activities for which you would be interested in further information.

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