South of Coyhaique and across the Castillo range and the Ibáñez River, lies a large area with its own geographical characteristics and with the Lago General Carrera as the main attraction. Chile shares this lake with Argentina where it is called Lago Buenos Aires. It is Chile’s largest lake and the second largest in South America with an area of 378 sq.miles, 125 miles long, 1148 ft above sea level and an approximate depth of 1935 ft

Lake General Carrera - photo Patricio Silva

In its northern section, the lake stretches east to west, and then lengthens toward the south. Lenga (Nothofagus pumilio)  and Coigüe (Nothofagus dombeyii) forests cover the steep slopes of the northern and western shore, while on the opposite side a much drier weather has only allowed a low vegetation to grow. The large size of the lake has made possible a micro-weather in the area with many nice and sunny days during the year, with good temperatures and rainfall levels much lower than the rest of the region. In fact, in the Chile Chico and Bahia Jara area, vegetables from northern latitudes are commonly grown.

Chile Chico - photo Patricio Silva

The Lago General Carrera drains into Lago Bertrand which is the source of the beautiful Baker river, probably one of the nicest river in Chile. The Baker flows 124 miles toward the south east and at its delta is located the village of Tortel. The river has several sections with white water, good for rafting and kayaking, and a few miles before it flows into the sea it is navigable for small motor boats.

Caleta Tortel - photo Patricio Silva

In 1899 Hans Steffens first explored the Baker valley and navigated up river from the delta. Between 1898 and 1899, he made several explorations of the fjords south of 46º latitude south, he crossed the Ofqui isthmus, navigated the Penas Gulf, and went up the Baker river naming its main tributaries as the Bravo and Pascua rivers. Inland he discovered the valleys of the Larga, Chacabuco, Juncal and Esmeralda lakes and made it to the western end of Lago Cochrane. The Lago General Carrera Lake was colonized by settlers that entered the region from Argentina the first decade of the 20^th century. Little by little they cleaned the land for pastures and founded villages, settling in the best valleys.

Protected Wilderness Areas

Natural Sanctuary Capilla del Mármol. This Sanctuary is on the Capilla del Mármol Point, surrounded by the Lake General Carrera. Along 330 yards of the coast, beautiful marble rock has come up to the surface and during centuries the water, the current and waves, helped by the wind, have carved in the rock caverns with a beautiful structure. The rock has different colors depending on how pure the marble is, but white marble prevails everywhere. Also some patches of blue and pink marble also can be seen.

Capilla del Mármol - photo Patricio Silva

Lago Jeinimeni National Reserve has a total area of 398.000 acres. The lake Jeinimeni with calypso blue waters is surrounded with a Nothofagus forest. In the reserve there is a wide variety of plants, trees and wildlife. Within the reserve boundaries is the “Cueva de las Manos”, 4264 ft above sea level, a very interesting sample of Tehuelche rock paintings.

Lago Tamango National Reserve. One of the largest herds of huemules (Andean deers) in their natural habitat can be found in this 17.000 acres reserve. These animals live in a beautiful wooded land with lenga trees on the mountains and coigüe trees down in the valleys.

Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. This 8.5 millions acres park is shared between the Aisén and the Magallanes region and includes the whole southern ice fields

Main attractions

• Protected wilderness areas
• Trekking and hiking
• Navigation on lakes and rivers
• Geology
• Rafting
• Fishing

To visit the Lago General Carrera , the Baker river and Tortel please check our related  programs.