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Heritage Destination #1 - Los Glaciares National Park (Argentina)

1,223 sites are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Natural sites, cultural assets or mixed areas, these wonders of humanity are also great travel destinations. Let's discover these sometimes little-known gems of our planet. Today we look at the glacial beauties of Argentine Patagonia...

Located in the southwest of the province of Santa Cruz, in the Argentine part of Patagonia, the Los Glaciares National Park and the national reserve of the same name covers a total area of ​​600,000 hectares. Los Glaciares owes its name to the many glaciers that cover about half of the area which is classified as a World Heritage Site.

Los Glaciares National Park is an area of ​​exceptional natural beauty, with its imposing jagged peaks and its many glacial lakes, including Lake Argentino, which is 160km long.

At its tip, three glaciers meet and pour their effluents into the icy milky gray waters, in the form of enormous icebergs that fall into the lake with a thunderous noise. The Los Glaciares ice field covers more than 14,000 square kilometers and has 47 large glaciers and 200 smaller ones. It's the largest ice field on the planet, outside of Antarctica.

© Chrysanthi Ha via Unsplash

Many of these glaciers are fed by the gigantic Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the largest South American vestige of the glaciological processes of the Quaternary period. In addition, there are impressive glaciers that are independent of the main ice field. The area therefore constitutes an immense reservoir of fresh water. The Upsala, Onelli and Perito Moreno glaciers flow into the icy, milky waters of the vast Lake Argentino, partially included in the park. One of the most remarkable spectacles of the area is provided by the famous Perito Moreno glacier.

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This large glacier blocks a narrow channel formed by Lake Argentino, causing a temporary rise in the water level. This then causes thunderous and regular ruptures of the glacial tongue into the lake.

A breathtakingly beautiful spectacle!

(MH with LpR/Pictures: Description and text: unesco.org/en/list/ under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0)

© Marina Zvada via Unsplash)

 

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