188 CultureShock! Chile
Natural Beauty
CONAF, the National Forest Corporation, administers 32 national
parks, 48 national reserves and 15 natural monuments. Below is
a list of some of the most notable. Nominal entrance fees.
Lauca National Park—Lake Chungará
La Campana National Park—One of last remaining
Chilean palm forests
Conguillío National Park—Llaima volcano and Araucaria
(monkey-puzzle tree) forest
Alerce Andino National Park—Alerce forest (enormous,
ancient, slow-growing larch trees)
Fray Jorge Forest National Park—Lush forest in the midst
of an arid region due to the camanchaca (coastal mist)
Laguna San Rafael National Park—Get up close to the
Mount San Valentín glacier
Villarrica National Park—Volcano Villarrica (hike up to
the crater, ski)
Rio Simpson National Reserve—Fly fishing on the
Simpson River
Radal Siete Tazas National Reserve—Seven waterfalls that
spill into seven little pools or ‘cups’
Rapa Nui National Park— Easter Island culture, Moais
Juan Fernández Archipelago National Park—Robinson
Crusoe Island
Los Flamencos National Reserve—Flamingos, salt deposits,
Moon Valley
Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park—Osorno Volcano,
Todos Los Santos Lake, Petrohué waterfalls
Pumalín Park—The largest private park in the world at
720,000 acres. The land was purchased by American Douglas
Tompkins in 1991 in order to protect it. It is open to the
public with no admission fee.Chilean Patagonia
Punta Arenas is the beginning point for any trip to Torres
del Paine, the cave of the milodón or the penguin colony at
Otway Inlet. The milodón is a large, sloth like animal that is
now extinct. Skin and other remains of this legendary animal