Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 15: Alerces National Park - El Abuelo: The Valdivian Temperate Rainforest

Once across Lago Menendez, we had reached one of the more remote areas of the park. The trail here can only be hiked with a guide and it gives you a glimpse of what the valdivian temperate rainforest looks like. The park beyond this area is part of the western two thirds of the park which are off-limitsand are part of a scientific reserve. This is where many endangered species such as the huemel, pudu (the smallest deer at just 40cm tall), chilean pigeon and rare hummingbirds can be found.

Up against the Chilean border, rainfall exceeds 3000 mm a year, enough to support the growth of the rainforest, and in particular the alerce for which the park is named. The Valdivian temperate rainforest is a habitat distinguished from the surrounding Patagonian forests by the presence of different layers to the canopy, in addition to the growth of lianas, epiphytes, surface roots and species more commonly found in chile. Here a mass of vegetation is engaged in the eternal struggle of the jungle: height equals light.

The guide for the hike through the Valdivian rainforest to El Abuelo. He only spoke Spanish and Mapuche but the guide for the German tour translated to German.

Our first glimpse of the Valdivian temperate rain forest.

The trail map for the 2 km "Alerzal Milenario" trail.

Thick cana colihue.

The guide explained how a rainforest has layers... the bottom layer of ferns, brush, and cana colihue,
a middle layer of vines that reach up along the trunks of trees, and the top canopy.

Samantha and a baby tree.

Vines growing up a tree trunk to try and get at the sunlight.

Samantha smells a Laura leaf.

A cana colihue shoot. Cana colihue grows vigorously after fire or clearing.
It blooms every 20 to 40 years and then the plant dies. Basal shoots are eaten cooked.

We must have just missed the time period where all the vines were flowering
cause we found lots of these blooms on the ground but only a few still on the plants.

The tall tree trunks are covered with moss and lichen which thrive in this moist and oxygen rich environment.

Duck!

On many of the trees the roots go up quite high before the trunk starts.

From a tree. (weinman trichosperma???)

A giant tree that had fallen over.
The guide explained how many of the trees rot from the inside and have a blue-ish colour on the inside of the trunk.