Description of the attraction
Torres del Paine National Park (2,420 sq km) is one of the largest and most beautiful parks in the country. It is the third most visited, about 75% of visitors are foreign tourists.
The national park is located 112 km north of Puerto Natales and 312 km from the city of Punta Arenas. Torres del Paine is one of eleven protected areas in Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica (along with four other national parks, three national reserves and three national monuments). Together, these protected areas cover 51% of the region's area (6,728,744 ha).
The park was created in 1959. In 1978, UNESCO announced its joining the list of biosphere reserves. The Torres del Paine Park is characterized by a rich fauna, flora and unique geography, making it an ideal destination for ecotourism and mountaineering, for all those who love the thrill to experience proximity to an area unknown to man.
Due to the movements of the earth's crust 12 million years ago, impressive snow-capped peaks were formed, such as Pine Grande Mountain (3050 m), Los Cuemos del Paine (2600, 2400, 2200 m), Torres del Paine (2250, 2460 and 2500 m), Fortaleza (2800 m), Escudo (2700 m). Having visited the Torres del Paine park, tourists definitely want to see the most spectacular Glacier Gray glacier (with an area of 270 square kilometers, 28 km long) - it is the third largest on Earth.
The park is riddled with numerous rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and waterfalls that begin their way from the glaciers of South Patagonia and end in the northeast at the Ultima Esperanza fjord, which washes the shores of Puerto Natales. The waterways of the rivers have sharp elevation changes on the slopes, creating waterfalls and rapids. The largest rivers are Pingo, Payne, Serrano and Gray. You can visit the shores of lakes: Dixon, Torro, Sarmiento, Nordenskjold, Peoe, Gray, Payne, see the magnificent waterfalls: Payne, Salto Grande, Salto Chico.
The last major study to study the flora of the park was carried out in 1974. This study identified four biotic zones that make up the entire area of the park, defining the "vegetation type": mosses, deciduous forest, steppe, Andean desert. Here you can see cypresses, several types of beech, evergreen oak "coigues", all kinds of shrubs, herbaceous plants, many flowers: clover, a rich variety of orchids.
The fauna of the park is very diverse. You can see guanacos, foxes, skunks, Andean deer, armadillos, parrots, rhea, condor, eagles, various waterfowl ducks, coot, black-necked swan, kingfisher, woodpeckers, thrush, cougar.
The park is located in an area of cold rainy temperate climate, without a dry season. The weather conditions in the park are quite varied due to the complex topography. The rainiest months are March and April, with little or no precipitation from July to October. The area is characterized by cool summers with temperatures below 16 ° C. The average minimum temperature in winter is -2.5 ° С.
