The Southern Cordillera de los Andes beauty is well known amongst hikers and climbers but few know about the hidden treasures these mountains possess. Even the inhabitants of nearby cities have probably never seen the beautiful Violas, Ourisias or Naussavias hidden amongst the rocks. Mountains around the world are habitat for many endemic or endangered species and this is true for the Andes. In many cases they are the last “Refugio” for species which have been exterminated in adjacent lower zones. Mountains contain indicators which are very sensitive to climatic changes. The overall global plant species richness of the alpine life zone is estimated to be around 10,000 species, approximately four per cent of the global number of higher plant species, situated on only three per cent of the global terrestrial land area. The flora of the low hills on the eastern slopes of the Southern Andes and the treeless Patagonian steppe with its clear, cold and brilliant skies, are very similar to the flora of the Central Chilean Andes including dwarf shrubs and dense cushions such as Chuquiraga, Adesmia, Oreopulus, Oxalis and Junellia.
FRAN ENRIGHT Fran came to Patagonia and soon became addicted, as she has returned on several occasions. She participated on several Cloud Ridge Naturalist tours, including a seminar on Ancient Forests of Argentina, which focused on the Alerce and Pehuen trees of Rio Negro and Neuquen. On her first Patagonia tour we walked to the Mirador del Ñirihuau at the Chalhuaco Valley, a few kms South East of Bariloche, here we took a few minutes to photograph and identify some tiny High Andean plants. While on the Seminar we spent a full day up Cerro Catedral with a local botanist and saw many beautiful tiny plants which included the amazing roseate violas. Fran next asked Carol to design a tour that would focus on High Andean Flora. Fran returned to Colorado and put together a group of Rock Garden friends which in January 2008 came on Causana Viajes first High Andean Flora tour. We had the expertise on plants of Cecilia Ezcurra and Carol not only enjoyed learning about the variety of plants found above tree line but also saw that everything went smoothly and prepared picnic lunches, made people sample local food and drinks, she even organized a mate party! We have enjoyed Fran company on a South Georgias Antarctica Expedition Cruise which Causana Viajes partnered with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the ABA, Cloud Ridge Naturalists to raise funds for the Punta Tombo Penguin Project. As well as on Cloud Ridge Naturalist tours we were fortunate to have been invited to participate on to Bathurst Inlet in the Canadian Artic and to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. We hope to be able to show you the North of Argentina and Chile soon Fran and to continue celebrating yours and Carol’s birthdays in the Southern hemisphere.
Departures upon request - Best season, mid November through January
