The Nahuel Huapi National Park (from the araucano Nahuel, that means tiger and Huapi: island) extends over 750.000 hectares (1.875.000 acres) of which 330.000 (825.000 acres) of them is a National Reserve. Situated in the south-west of Neuquen province and north-west of Rio Negro, it stretches from the Patagonian steppes to the high Andes. To the west, its highest peaks delimit the border with Chile. Among these is the impressive Tronador (3554 Mts.) and Campana, Capilla, López and Catedral (between 1800 and 2400 Mts.).

Between these high peaks these are several deep valleys that allows easy crossing to Chile trough passes such as Cardenal Samore, Perez Rosales and Vuriloche. Another interesting feature is the quantity of lakes and rivers, that due to the abundant rains and the melting of snow and glaciers rushing down either to the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean. Lake Nahuel Huapi, covering an area of 60.000 hectares (150.000 acres) and with the maximum depth of 464 meters around Puerto Blest, is the most important of the area, to which we must add: Perito Moreno, Gutierrez, Mascardi, Los Moscos, Hess, Fonck, Guillelmo and Steffen lake