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 lakes
The most important feature of this National Park is its diversity of habitats. Such as the large lake and river system, the sub- Antartic and valdivian cold forests, the dry steppes, lowland forest undergrowth and the high Andean ranges that host an interesting native flora and fauna. Big forests of cipreses, ñires, lengas, coihues, notros, guindos, lauras, arrayanes, radales, alerces and maitenes – all native trees – in the west give way to the neneo and the coiron – patagonian grasses – that cover the sterile landscape of the patagonian steppe to the east. The exuberant vegetation of the valdivian forest, towards the border with Chile, is made up of impressive trees like coihues, mñiu, laura and alerce, entwined by varieties of lianas such as the pahueldin and pil pil voqui. |  |
The ever damp undergrowth is dominated by the caña colihue and ferns. In spite of mans devastating effect on nature, the local fauna is no less rich than its flora. The variety of habitats host a number of interesting species: along the waterways we can find the native perch and river otter; down on the steppes many raptors, guanaco, rhea and patagonian hare and up in the snow covered peaks we find we find the majestic condor, puma and huemul. In the dense undergrowth there are pudu and chucao and in the open wetlands lapwing and Andean geese. These qualities give it special importance as a nature reserve, with strict conservation measures but open to scientific, educational and recreational activities for present and future generations.