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Protagonists of an identity

For 10,000 years, the Nahuel Huapi Lake area has witnessed the passage, convergence and residence of the inhabitants of the area.

The possibilities offered by the environments of this region allowed human groups to put into practice different strategies to develop their own identity.

The first settlers of the region would have been the Tehuelches, who were hunters and gatherers. The Puelche of Nahuel Huapi specialized in a lake way of life and later, the Araucanized groups dedicated themselves to agricultural activities.

Around 1600, through the mountain range, the white man came from the current Chilean territory, taking part in slave expeditions, Jesuit missions or travelers.

In 1876, Expert Francisco P. Moreno arrived in this area from Buenos Aires, to explore northern Patagonia.

The Desert Campaign (1879-1883) produced the almost total extermination of the indigenous people who populated these lands. Later, settlers from both sides of the mountain range settled in the region.

In 1902 Colonia San Carlos was born. The agricultural-livestock activity at the beginning of the century ceased to be the economic axis and tourist activity emerged from the creation of the Nahuel Huapi National Park in 1934.

The Nahuel Huapi National Park, with its 710,000 ha, is characterized by the great variety of its landscapes. In this area it is possible to reconstruct the history of occupation and use of the place. In it there are areas of public domain occupied by descendants of settlers or indigenous people who carry out rural activities, as well as sectors with important infrastructure for visitors and private properties that existed prior to the creation of the Park. In some cases, the status of lands in the public domain has been changed to a system of community ownership of them. Simultaneously, there are strict conservation zones where human activity is limited only to scientific research.









The City of San Carlos de Bariloche, surrounded by the National Park, can be accessed from San Martín de los Andes by National Route No. 234 and National Route No. 231, a means of communication known as ´´Camino de los Siete Lagos´ ´.

Another way of access is from San Martín de los Andes, along Provincial Route No. 63.

From Neuquén you go up through National Route No. 237. From the south of the National Park you can access San Carlos de Bariloche through National Route No. 258.

By air you can arrive at the San Carlos de Bariloche airport.

In the Park you have access to Chile through three border crossings: two by land, through National Route No. 231, Paso Puyehue; along Provincial Route No. 83, Paso Cochamó and the third lake, through Paso Perez Rosales.



The land donation made by the Expert Francisco Pascasio Moreno on November 6, 1903, constitutes the nucleus on which the Nahuel Huapi National Park was created -in 1934-.

Due to its ecological and landscape value, it protects an extensive representative area of ​​the Andean region of northern Patagonia.

It is located in the southwest of the Province of Neuquén and northwest of the Province of Río Negro and covers an area of ​​705,000 hectares.

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