Imagine a continent with over 300 national parks to choose from, ranging from rugged rocky peaks to palm tree-lined beach forests! To help narrow such an astounding choice down, we have handpicked ten of the most incredible national parks in South America to help you get started.
This 245-square-mile park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and Argentina’s only coastal national park. Just outside the park’s border you’ll discover Puente Quemado (“the burned bridge”) and Macarena Waterfall, plus the Pipo River, which flows into the park and runs alongside the peat bog, giving the Laguna Negra (black lagoon) its colour and name. Inside the park, sits the sixty-five-mile-long Lake Fagnano which offers views of Andes Mountains.
At a whopping 2,800 square miles, this is the largest national park in the country and another one on UNESCO’s list. As the park name suggests, granduer glaciers are very much on the radar here with 30% of the national park covered in ice, and the Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the leading attractions. Visitors also enjoy hikes to the stunning Mount Fitz Roy, with its summit reaching a height of 11,171ft. Lake Argentino also features an area of 566 square miles, making it the largest lake in the country.
This park sits in the west of Brazil by the Bolivian border in the Pantanal Biosphere Reserve, which is the world’s largest tropical wetland. During the rainy season, around 80% of the park and wider floodplains are underwater, producing greater biodiversity in its local aquatic plant life and feeding a remarkable range of fauna, from jaguars to giant otters. For wildlife spotting, the best time is the dry winter season, roughly from June-September when the water has receded and the animals cluster around the waterholes.
Lençóis Maranhenses in Portuguese literally means “bedsheets of Maranhão,” and you can see from the aerial views how the sand dunes of this park got their name. Two rivers push sand from the interior of the continent to the Atlantic, depositing thousands of tons of sediment along Brazil’s northern coast. During the dry season, powerful winds from the equatorial Atlantic whip the sand back inland, carrying it as far as thirty miles and creating the vast, sculpted sand dunes for which the park is famous.
Named a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO and the 8th Natural Wonder, Torres del Paine is an enchanting national park found down in the Patagonia region of southern Chile. This vast expanse of nature is best known for its range of landscapes and unique jagged mountain peaks where Guanacos, flamingos, rheas and pumas stalk the lands and ice fields, and Andean condors and eagles circle the sky above.
Exploring Torres del Paine, you’ll be taken from breathtaking fjords to mountains, forests, and glaciers, all combining to create a place of raw natural beauty.
In 2018, the Chilean President and President of Tompkins Conservation signed a decree creating five new national parklands, one of which is Patagonia National Park in southernmost Chile. The Chacabuco Valley represents a significant biological valley that lies between the Patagonia steppe grasslands of Argentine Patagonia and the beech forests of Chilean Patagonia. The landscape drastically changes with the elevation, producing forests with greater levels of rainfall.
This stunning park located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada of north Colombia offers nature lovers a unique experience of outstanding landscapes and unforgettable sunsets. Tayrona is a popular destination for swimming, hiking, and camping, rewarding tourists with beautiful beaches and sheltered waters that harbour an array of wildlife and diversity of fauna.
The Galapagos Islands form one of the best national parks – as well as wildlife destinations – in Latin America. This is a land that is home to the famous giant Galapagos tortoises, sea lions, iguanas, and blue-footed boobies among many others. 97% of these remote islands off the coast of Ecuador enjoy protected status. There are volcano hikes, rock pools and plenty of scuba diving and snorkeling among sharks and manta rays to keep a traveller happy here.
Volcanoes sprout everywhere in South America, and Ecuador’s best is right at the heart of Cotopaxi National Park in the avenue of volcanoes. At over 19,000ft in height, Cotopaxi itself is a beast many intrepid hikers want to take on, or simply admire driving past. The park itself also is home to quite a range of bird life, and has its fair share of archaeological ruins open for exploration too.
UNESCO registered and covering a broad range of environments due to its size, Manu National Park is the largest and most important national park in Peru. Its borders range from Amazonian the basin up into forests and grasslands of the Andes mountains, giving it a great depth of biodiversity. The remote location of Manu National Park to the north of Cusco has helped preserve the park and its many species of birds, insects, and other animals.
If you would like to begin creating your perfect park holiday to Latin America, simply complete the enquiry form to get in touch.
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