La Campana National Park
Coastal Range

Darwin`s Botanical Garden

 

Highlight

This national park is the most representative of the rich flora and fauna in the Central zone of Chile. With its many endemic species and exuberant nature, it has been designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.

The famous English biologist, Charles Darwin was surprised by the rich fauna of this place, which shows his written testimony after his visit during the beginning of the 19 th century.

We will trek in the great Ocoa area, walking through humid forests, rocky hills and waterfalls. We will see the famous Chilean Palms, the southernmost palm species of the world in one of the few places were it still survives.

 

 

Description

Once we've started our trek we will be able to appreciate the interesting flora and fauna of this place, where we will see in no time the first Jubaea Chilensis, better known as Chilean Palms. There are more than 60.000 individuals of this species in this park. After 1 hour of walking we will be able to enjoy the grove of Ocoa where the Chilean Palms are concentrated. This area is surrounded with fickle rock formations. One might forget that we are not in the Jurassic period.

We will continue in a gentle ascent south, to arrive in an hour and a half to an interesting quartz mine, mineral that is plentiful in these lands and that was extracted in the past by artisanal miners. Here, we will have reached the highest altitude in this trek, and the view that we will have of the Ocoa area reaches its peak. We will rest here and watch the magnificent scenery before us.

In our return we will take an alternative route where we will be able to appreciate a beautiful landscape highlighted by a 30 meter waterfall and giant cacti called Quiscos. We will continue on our way back to where we started by going down elevated slopes from where we will have an impressive view of the beautiful Mountain La Campana, mountain that gives the park its name. Back at the park entrance, the ANDES TERRAE vehicle will be waiting for us, after a day of intense contact with this unique nature.