Nahuel Huapi Lake

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View of the Nahuel Huapi lake and the city of Bariloche.

Lake Nahuel Huapi from space (the elongated, dark feature in the center of the image is the lake and in the bottom is seen the Limay River), North is to the right of the image, January 1997

Nahuel Huapi Lake (Spanish: Lago Nahuel Huapi) is a lake of the lake region of northern Patagonia between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina.

The lake, located at the Nahuel Huapi National Park, has a surface of 550 km², the water level is some 700 meters over the sea level, and the maximum measured depth is 450 meters.

The lake has 7 arms called Campanario, de la Tristeza, Blest, Machete, del Rincón, Última Esperanza and Huemul. Is connected to other smaller lakes such as Gutiérrez, Moreno, Espejo and Correntoso. The deep-blue waters hold a number of islands, most notably Isla Victoria with 31 km². The lake is also the starting point of the Limay River.

[edit] Nahuelito

At the beginning of the 20th century, and following an old aboriginal legend, the rumour of a giant creature living in the deep waters of the lake took up, and the legend of Nahuelito was born.

Members of the Buenos Aires Zoo visited the lake trying to corroborate the reports of sightings of the prehistoric animal, but found no evidence to support the theory of such a creature.

[edit] See also

Huemul Project, the Argentine secret research project on nuclear fusion on the Huemul Island.
Limay River, a major river of the region that is born in the lake.