Alerce Andino National Park, National park in Los Lagos Region, Chile

Alerce Andino National Park is a protected area in the Los Lagos Region of Chile, about 46 km from Puerto Montt. It covers roughly 393 km2 in the Andes, bounded by the Reloncaví Estuary to the east and south, the Reloncaví Sound to the west and Chapo Lake to the north. It holds about 50 lakes and natural ponds, and alerce trees over 40 m tall cover some 20,000 hectares.

The park was established in November 1982 to protect one of the oldest forest types in South America. The trees at its core, known locally as alerce, belong to the Fitzroya genus and have been growing in the Andes for thousands of years.

The Huilliche people traditionally traveled through these waterways using boats built from wooden planks and tree bark, known as dalcas. This way of moving through the landscape shows how closely local communities lived with the rivers and forests that make up the park today.

The park has two separate entry points: one south of Puerto Montt leading to the Correntoso and Sargazo areas, and another through the Lenca sector. Sturdy footwear is recommended for most trails, as the ground is often wet and uneven.

The Monito del Monte, a small marsupial that lives in this type of forest, is considered a living fossil whose ancestors existed more than 40 million years ago. Despite looking like a rodent, it is more closely related to Australian marsupials than to other South American mammals.