El Leoncito National Park

The National Park El Leoncito is a protected area in the Argentine province of San Juan (in the south of the department of Calingasta ). It exists since 1994 and was declared a National Park in 2002, which covers an area of 760 km ². Objective is to protect the local Puna with the associated flora ( mainly shrubs ) and fauna (including guanacos, rheas Darwin and peregrine ). Also located in the national park worth protecting archaeological and paleontological sites (including the remains of an ancient Inca trail ). Due to the good visibility (low cloud cover, exemplary steppe / desert -like climate ) and remoteness ( no air pollution, no light pollution ) are two observatories in the National Park, the Astronomical device Leoncito and the Felix Aguilar Observatory. The national park is very secluded, the nearest towns with more than 2,000 inhabitants are Barreal, 30 km north of the park and Calingasta, 70 km north of the park.