Argentina

November 6-29, 2009

November 15: Alerces National Park - El Abuelo: Lago Cisne and El Abuelo

As we walked through the rain forest, the path took us along the Rio Cisne and eventually to Lago Cisne. Despite its name Lago Cisne is no longer home to any Black-necked Swans; they were wiped out by the mink. We stopped briefly to take a drink of sparkling pure water from the lake and then continued on.

Finally we came to the end of the tour to see the highlight of today: El Abuelo ("The Grandfather", also named El Alerzal), a gigantic alerce 2.2 m in diameter, and 57 m tall. This magnificent tree is an estimated 2600 years old, making it older than four of the five most widespread religions in the world. It was a sapling when Pythagoras and Confucius taught, but a mere hundred years ago it almost became roof shingles: only the fact that settlers deemed its wood rotten inside saved ot from the saw.

Alerce (fitzroya cupressoides):
Similar in appearance to the californian redwood, the alerce, or Patagonian cypress, can reach heights of 57 m and is one of the four oldest species of tree in the world. To the Mapuche it is lahuán, meaning "long-lived" or "grandfather", and the oldest specimens are an estimated 4000 years old. They grow in a relatively narrow band of the central Patagonian cordillera, on acidic soils by lakes and only in lakes where the annual rainfall exceeds 3000 mm, so they are more common on the wetter Chilean side of the Andes than in Argentina. Growth is extemely slow (0.8-1.2 mm a year) and it takes decades to gain 1 cm in diameter though the trunk may eventually reach 3 m across. The alerce seeds only when 200 years old.

From the late nineteenth century onwards, the alerce was almost totally logged out by pioneers: the reddish timber is not eaten by insects and does not rot, so was highly valued for building, especially for roof shingles. In Argentina the only ones that survived were the inaccessible ones or those like El Abuelo, a titanic millennial specimen whose wood was bad in parts. Now the few groves that remain are well protected.

Lago Cisne. Lago Cisne is no longer home to any of the black-necked swans the lake was named after;
they were wiped out by mink.

Another look at the 1500 year old alerce.

A myrtle tree among the alerce trees.

Looking up at the giant alerce trees.

The valdivian temperate rainforest.

The river rushing down a narrow gorge.

View over the Rio Cisne.

A close-up of the waterfall.

El rio cisne.

Although the alerce trees are now environmentally protected,
you can still see the past evidence of the logging that threatened these trees.

Another beautiful alerce.

Ribes magellanicus - Zarzaparrilla (or simply parilla). The patagonian version of wild currants.

Ferns.

Taique - desfontainea spinosa

Lots of plants we can't identify (they need more signs!)

A small sponge ... As the rainfall regime between 3000 and 4000 annual mmm, this composition is essential for the regulation of plant water flow, slowing the impact of rain, setting ci absorbing the remaining dirty with litter layer, without which there would be serious consequences