>> Talampaya National Park

It is located at the South Center of the Province of La Rioja. It is one of the natural museums, of harmonious folding, that summarize the geological history of the Earth.

It treasures the great accumulations of Rust and trashes that the alluvions of the Permic and Triassic periods deposited in its slopes, giving them their peculiar reddish color. As you get into the steep mountain passes, the feeling of smallness increases as you face the colossal rocky walls of over 150m., and the diversity of the shapes that the water and wind capriciously eroded on them. All along the canyon of the Talampaya River, there are millenarian carob tree woods, framed among rocky walls almost 100 meters high, which give a unique attractiveness to the landscape.

It is also a shelter for Condors. Wide extensions of arum and brooms are inhabited by gray foxes, black-legged chuñas, ñandúes petisos, maras, and so on. Some endemic species of our country such as the Gallito Arena (Little sand rooster), find shelter there, too. The reddish rocky walls of the Talampaya are covered by several manifestations of pre Hispanic cultures that inhabited the area about 1,000 years ago.

A natural thirteen meter-long wall full of petroglyphs. There are also sedimentary deposits of the Permic and Triassic periods, that are rich in fossils, especially of great anphibia and reptiles. This fact makes the place internationally relevant, being, together with Ischigualasto, a few kilometers away, one of the most important deposits of its kind. The deep canyons, the valleys full of curious figures carved by erosion, the colorful sedimentary strata, all framed in a dessert landscape of immense beauty, give to Talampaya a unique scenic importance.

Archeological/Paleontological Deposits: The cave art developed in Talampaya constitutes one of the most valuable Indian manifestations in our country. The carvings in the rocks at the foot of the ravines are more than one hundred, and they represent stylized human figures, ñandú footprints, cats and several signs and geometric figures that have not been interpreted yet.

The most important center is the one called "Los Pizarrones" (the Chalkboards). It is located on the bank of a temporary stream affluent of the Talampaya River, in a plain, rocky, 15 meter-long sector, covered by engravings (petroglyphs) several years before the conquest. Another natural attribute of great importance is its paleontological value. All the valley comprised between the Señogasta and Morada (Purple) Hills, is of the same Triassic origin as the neighbor area of Ischigualasto or Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) in San Juan. This two areas are separated by the Morada Hill.