"Ancient trees" Top 5 Page for this destination San Carlos de Bariloche Favorite Tip by TheWanderingCamel

Favorite thing: As a gardener and tree-lover from way back, I loved the woods and forests around Bariloche. The differences in altitude and rainfall mean the woodland that cover so much of the greater part of the National Park feature changing species of both indigenous and exotic species as the elevations change and there was always something new to see and discover.

Coihue, nire and lenga, different species of southern beeches with a fossil record stretching back 80 million years to the days of Gondwana, dominate along with Andean cypress. They share the forest with other species, some of which - such as the distinctive monkey puzzle tree - are introduced from elsewhere. These are the giants of the forest.

Golden broom lines the roadsides and was looking absolutely beautiful but it's an introduced species that, despite its picturesque appeal, has outgrown its welcome as it grows into dense thickets that crowd out native species such as the orange -flowered berberis.

You'll need to look up to see the golden globes of the llao llao - a fungus that grows in the Coihue and whose name means "sweet-sweet". As well as the distinctive clusters of orangey-yellow balls that are sweet to eat, the llao llao produces galls of up to 1 metre on the trees' trunk and branches - you'll see slices of these polished and used for clock faces.

Fondest memory: There were so many others - flaming red notro, pink and purple fuschia growing wild, bright orange fungii on a rotting tree trunk, green tunnels of colihue, the cinnamon and white twists of the arrayane, tiny ferns growing on the rocks near the Black Glacier, delicate wild cherry blossoming on Isla Victoria .... something new every day, and Anna and Raoul - our two guides, were so well-informed about them all.