The small city of Puerto Montt in southern Chile can be called the gates of Patagonia - the territory of national parks and reserves of the country. More than 150 years have passed since its foundation by German colonists. And by now, it has become the starting point on the way to the evergreen forest of Alerce Andino National Park.

The park covers an area of ​​about 40 thousand hectares and is located in the Andes, surrounded by 50 beautiful lakes and fjords. There are 20 thousand hectares of dense forest with thousand-year-old trees. Some of them are up to 4 thousand years old. The park stretches along the Relonkawi River through the mountain range formed by melting glaciers, on the one hand, and the periodic movement of the earth's crust on the other. Thanks to the cliffs and deep valleys of these places, the natural beauty of the entire park has remained wild.

Conventionally, its entire territory can be divided into two parts: next to Chapo Lake and next to the Chaikas River, which is popular among bungee jumpers. Otherwise, this part of the park is a picturesque forest with centuries-old trees and numerous lakes. Just imagine yourself swimming in one of these lagoons with mirror water, surrounded by larch trees that are up to 1000 years old. In the area of other lakes, you can find ancient larches more than 50 meters high and about 3 thousand years old. Unfortunately, this coniferous beauty of the forests of South America is currently under threat of extinction.

The real treasures of Alerce Andino Park are Fitzroy trees. The entire park was named by the Spanish name of these trees - Alerce. This rare tree species is found only in these areas. Their height is 50 meters, and their diameter reaches 4 meters. They are considered one of the largest trees in South America.