Fray Jorge National Park

On the coastal range at Fray Jorge, at around 600 metres, grows a fragment of Valdivian temperate rainforest - olivillo, canelo, mosses and ferns - about a thousand kilometres north of the nearest continuous forest of that kind, surrounded by semi-desert scrub. It survives on camanchaca, the fog off the Humboldt current, which condenses on the ridge and delivers moisture the sky never does; the forest is a relict of a wetter climate that ended thousands of years ago. It was made a national park in 1941 and a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1977. A short boardwalk runs through the forest at the top of the climb.

History

The forest was found in 1627 by a Franciscan friar who, short of timber, went looking for it with mules; he brought wood back from here to build part of the bell tower of the Church of San Francisco in La Serena. The national park was created in 1941 and is run by CONAF, and in 1977 UNESCO made it a biosphere reserve (Wikipedia, Bosque de Fray Jorge National Park).

What you'll find

• Valdivian rainforest in a desert - a thousand kilometres from the rest.
• Living on fog, not rain - condensation on the ridge.
• A relict of a wetter past - stranded by climate change millennia ago.
• A biosphere reserve since 1977 - and a national park since 1941.

When to go

Year round; winter fog makes the forest most atmospheric. Half a day.

Good to know

If the fog does not come in, the forest is just a small wood and the effect is lost. The road up is gravel and can close in bad weather. The boardwalk is short - this is a half-day, not a hiking park.

Nearby

Ovalle and Valle del Encanto are inland; La Serena is north.

Key facts