Nahuel Huapi National Park is situated in the Argentine Lake District and was the country’s first national park. It was designated after Perito Francisco Moreno donated some 7,500 hectares to the state for conservation. Nahuel Huapi is Mapuche (native Indian tongue) for tiger island.

The Park which now extends over 710,000 hectares and runs along the border with Chile contains large tracts of virgin forest, pristine rivers and magnificent lakes. There is no real entrance to the park and, unusually, at its heart stands the chocolate-box Swiss-style city and popular ski resort Bariloche, situated alongside the 100-km-long Lago Nahuel Huapi. From Bariloche, Villa La Angostura (an upmarket lakeside village) and Villa Traful, there are a multitude of outdoor pursuits on offer such as trekking, canoeing, sailing, fishing and skiing to name but a few. The area is popular among Argentine summer and winter vacationers.

Within Nahuel Huapi National Park is Los Arrayanes National Park, a fabulous forest of arrayan trees. Otherwise known as the myrtle or luma apiculata it is native to the central Andes between Argentina and Chile. The arrayan lives for hundreds of years and is an evergreen with a distinctive powdery burnt-orange bark that peels as the tree grows which is slowly. Its trunk is typically twisted and contorted. It also flowers prolifically in early to mid summer, a white blossom. Los Arrayanes is on the Quetrihué Peninsula; another arrayan forest can be seen at Victoria Island on Lago Nahuel Huapi. Park Administration, Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi and Parque Nacional Arrayanes, San Martín 24, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro. Tel: +54 (0) 294 442 3111 or +54 (0) 294 442 3121.