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Argentina Tours & Travel | Lanin National Park

Lanin National Park is located along the Chilean border in southwest Neuquen Province. It was established in 1937 to preserve the north Patagonian Andean forest where plateau and Andes meet, and may be visited when you travel to Argentina on Patagonia tours. Encompassing over a million acres, the park has many lakes and glacial valleys. The park's monkey puzzle tree (known as puen or araucaria), is an evergreen conifer endemic to the temperate rainforests of Argentina along the eastern slopes of the Andes. The species is officially protected in Argentina and genetically different from the national tree of Chile, a species of monkey puzzle tree found in that country's south central regions.
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Threatened by fire, logging and grazing, the tree lives up to a thousand years in poor volcanic soils. It has ornamental value and is used in construction, producing edible seeds prized for their high carbohydrate content and important to the Pehuenche people who once inhabited the area. Other tree species in the park's forests you'll see when you travel Patagonia on Argentina tours here include two endemic broad-leaf Nothafagus species, the roble pellin and rauli.; Among the park's wildlife are a number of bird species including two walker-birds, the chucao and the huet huet. Visitors on Argentina tours here keep an eye out for the two critically endangered species that inhabit the park, the huillin (southern river otter) and the huemul (Andean deer). The small puda as well as pumas may also be seen.; Indigenous communities of Mapuche and Naguinco live in the park as do some Creoles. Twelve private firms operate here, and some land is owned privately and by the army.; Dry summers make this the best time to visit on Argentina tours, though there are strong winds and year-round frost in the Patagonian forests at some higher elevations. The park has camp sites, some of which are open only part of the year. In addition, hostels and cabins are located nearby if you decide to visit the park when you travel to Argentina. Fishing, and with special permission, some non-motorized water sports are allowed. The park's many trails include a four-day hike to the volcano itself possible between September and April as well as shorter hikes to the lakes for visitors on Argentina tours.
For more information about visiting Lanin National Park when you travel Patagonia on Argentina tours, email pnlanin@apn.gov.ar