Nahuel Huapi is Argentina’s oldest national park. It covers a large part of the Lake District and there are fifteen lakes, two major rivers and and maze of streams within its border. The park takes its name from the largest of the lakes and it means Jaguar Island. The island bit is likely a reference to the largest island on the lake though it is unlikely there were ever Jaguar in the region. However, the Mapuche people (from who the name comes from) will have have known Jaguar whilst hunting elsewhere and perhaps used it to describe a Chieftain of the island.
The park, with its lakes and waterways woven between the Andes mountains, is staggeringly beautiful. The highest peaks of the mountains have a dusting of snow all year round and…
Mount Tronador, the higest peak Nahuel Huapi
…the lower hills, coated with a mixture of Valdivian rain forest and Patagonian woodland, are home to an abundance of wildlife, including: Puma, Pudu and Huemel deer, Guanaco (mini-llamas) and over a hundred species of birds – of which the notable celebrity is the magnificent Andean Condor.
The Magellanic Woodpecker, indigenous to the region
And the park is not just easy on eye, there is also a huge amount to do: from white water rafting, hiking, riding or kayaking to skiing (in the winter) and parts of the rivers are left exclusively for fishing.
