The Nature Reserve Laguna del Diamante is located in San Carlos District, 198 km Southwest from Mendoza City. The landscape of Maipo vulcano and the turquoise lagoon at its feet is one of the most beautiful spots in the Central Andes.
Since 1993 the area has been protected by a Natural Reserve, managed by Dirección de Recursos Naturales Renovables de Mendoza. The Reserve nowadays enables us to enjoy the sight of herds of guanacos (a camelid, relative of the llama) grazing by the side of the road.
In the vast lake of clear waters the light is transformed into intense blue and turquoise colours. On windless mornings, the shape of Maipo reflecting in the surface of the lake resembles a diamond. This image gives the lake its name (Diamond lagoon).
Landscape and Geology
At the beginning of the Quaternary period, a huge volcanic caldera some 17 km in diameter collapsed in the place were the lake now sits. These calderas could be said to be depressions caused by the sinking or collapsing of a volcano. The type of eruption that took place was of explosive characteristics.
The Caldera del Diamante (Diamond Caldera) represents one of the main units displaying this type of volcanism within the cordillera region during the Quaternary period. Vast eruptions of volcanic ash rich in silica occurred and covered large extents of the plains of Mendoza.
Later on, volcanic dynamics were far quieter and fostered the formation of stratovolcanics, that is to say the formation of volcanic structures in successive layers or strata, such as the Maipo Volcano (5,323 m).
The Laguna is fed by melting ice and gives rise to the Diamante River. It covers an area of 1,400 ha and it has a maximum depth of 70 m. The average depth is 38 m. The lake is a spectacular fresh water reservoir of approximately 571 millions of cubic metres.
Ecology, Fauna and Flora
Vegetable and animal species display notable adaptations to life at high altitude. Their presence can be seen up to 3,500 m. The predominant vegetation is shrub–like, very open and low, formed by yellow timber (leña amarilla), yareta and huecú (or grass of the mountains).
The reserve protects huge areas of summer grazing lands for large herds of guanacos which migrate from lower regions. There are many bird species, such as cauquén, a type of wild goose, jilgueros, dormilonas, remolineras and agachonas. In the lower regions, suri cordilleranos (choiques) and condors can be found.
Cultural Inheritance
The areas surrounding Laguna del Diamante display evidence of summer occupation by hunting and gathering groups around 1,400 years ago.
The Diamante River region is very important from the cultural point of view since until the arrival of Spaniards the river acted as a natural border between two indigenous groups: the Huarpes, farmers, to the north, and the Puelches Chiquillanes, hunter–gatherers, to the south.
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One of the main activities was guanaco hunting, not only for their own consumption but also for trading in the form of charqui (jerked beef) with the peoples who inhabited the plains on both sides of the Andean Range. The most frequently used vegetable species must have been yaretas and other shrubs which despite their small size served as timber.
Given the fact that ever since pre-Hispanic times until the present day all the Andean passes have always been key to commercial relations with Chile, we can say that the Andean Range does not represent a natural border.
Intermontaine valleys and meadows permitted the driving of cattle to the other side of the Andes, the main economic activity towards the end of the 19th century. This traffic gave rise to the arrieros (cattle drivers) who are so characteristic of the Argentine tradition. They were the ones who knew all the passes and paths to be used for driving the cattle to be sold in Chile.
Air crash in Laguna del Diamante: Henri Guillaumet’s Heroic Deed
On June 13th of 1930 a moving event takes place in the Andean Range. A Potez 25/55, belonging to Compagnie Genérale Aeropostale, flown by Henri Guillaumet flips over on the east margin of the Laguna del Diamante.
The company Aeropostale, which would later become Air France, used to provide mail services between Argentina and Chile. The crossing of the Andes aboard those fragile machines was very risky. The Chief of Traffic of the Company was the French writer Antoine de Saint–Exupéry.
The usual flight route was to the north of the crash site, but a huge storm forced the pilot to look for an alternative route further south. The Maipo Volcano served as a landmark for the first part of the new route, but a descending air current forced the pilot to attempt an emergency landing which ended with the plane flipping over. The pilot miraculously survived.
Led by the French writer, a large number of pilots deeply shaken by news of the crash unsuccessfully searched for the unfortunate Guillaumet.
Hope to find him alive vanished as days passed and the search was called off. On Thursday 19th, a teenage goat keeper saw a strangely dressed figure shouting incomprehensible words. After wandering amid the Andes, Henri Guillaumet had heroically and miraculously saved his own life.
When he met his companion Saint – Exupéry, Guillaumet said in tears: “What saves you is to take a step, and another one. It is always the same step with which you restart”… |
