Los Glaciares National Park description and photos - Argentina: El Calafate (Topic)

Los Glaciares National Park description and photos - Argentina: El Calafate. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Los Glaciares.

Photo and description

Los Glaciares National Park is located along the border with Chile and covers an area of about 446 thousand hectares. Los Glaciares is one of the largest conservation areas in Argentina. This territory became a national park in April 1945. And in 1981 it was included in the UNESCO list as a World Heritage Site.

Translated from Spanish, Los Glaciares means "glaciers." Indeed, in this region of the Southern Hemisphere, nowhere else is there a continental land and such favorable conditions for the development of modern glaciation. More than forty percent of the western territory of Los Glaciares is covered with the eternal ice and snow of the Patagonian Andes. In the protected area, the largest ice cap outside Antarctica was discovered, consisting of 47 glaciers.

Perito Moreno is the most famous glacier in Los Glaciares Park. Its height is about 50 m, its length is 4 km. The glacier is 30 thousand years old. Perito Moreno is considered one of the few surviving glaciers in the world. It is named after the Argentine scientist Francisco Moreno, translated from Spanish "Perito Moreno" means "Scientist Moreno". The plateau itself is the world's third-largest freshwater reserve. According to scientists, the glacier has a special ability to maintain balance and not succumb to global warming.

Perito Moreno is a unique glacier also because its massifs begin to form at an altitude of 1500 m above sea level, and then descend from mountains and fall into Lake Argentino. Thousands of tourists flock to the national park to see this spectacle. UNESCO declared the Perito Moreno Glacier a World Heritage Site.

Especially for tourists, mini-trekking to the unique walls of the glacier is carried out. Visitors are given special shoes for walking on ice. During the walk, you can see a variety of ice formations - small lagoons, cracks, sewers, as well as the place where the glacier collapsed. In addition, there is a walk on the lake. The boat takes tourists 200 meters from the glacier so that they can appreciate the beauty of Perito Moreno.

At the foot of the Andes, on the shore of the lake is the city of El Calafate. It is named for the Patagonian berry. Local residents make jam from it and make all kinds of alcoholic liqueurs. The city is a staging post for all tourists on the way to the glacier.

Due to the melting of glaciers within the park, a complex system of lakes formed in it. There are about a hundred of them in total, the most famous of which are Argentino and Viedma.

As for flora and fauna, the main area in the park is occupied by subantarctic Patagonian forests and Patagonian steppes. More than a hundred bird species live in the forests of the protected area, the most notable of which are the long-billed rhea, the Andean condor, the black-necked finch and the clawed duck. Among the animals, one can distinguish the Andean deer, guanacos, llamas, condors, Patagonian hares, gray foxes, pumas.

On the territory of the park in the Puerta del Canyon, scientists have discovered the remains of ancient settlements, and in the bed of the local river , which has long since dried up - the fossilized remains of dinosaurs.

Every year, the Los Glaciares protected area is visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world.

We also recommend reading Radishchevsky Museum description and photos - Russia - Volga region: Saratov

Topic: Los Glaciares National Park description and photos - Argentina: El Calafate.