One cannot pass through Patagonia and not stop at the magical forests of Arrayanes in the Los Arrayanes National Park. It is an experience you won’t find anywhere else in the world.
Los Arrayanes National Park covers 17.53 square kilometres of lush forest on the Quetrihué Peninsula on the shore of the Nahuel Huapi Lake in Argentina. The forest can be reached by boat or a 12 km hike from the port of Villa La Angostura through lush forests of lengas, coihue nearly 400 years old and ñires.
Once you reach the Bosque de Arrayanes you step into an ancient world of bright orange and cinnamon twisted trees with irregular white spots and smooth cool bark. These trees grow extremely slow reaching around 15 meters with 50 centimetre trunks. The forest itself is over 300 years old and some individual trees are more than 600 years old.
In the heart of this magical place you will find a tea house named “Bambi”. Local folklore said that the forest inspired Walt Disney so much that he modelled forests in his film “Bambi” on the Bosque de Arrayanes.
Nature is Imagination
Photos and content by Tharien Pieterse, ForestNation Ambassador and Founder and travel writer at Travel Muti.
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