El Palmar

Declared in 1966, it protects one of the last great remnants of an ecosystem that once covered much of Argentina's river littoral and has today all but disappeared under agriculture: extensive groves of yatay, a native palm of very slow growth that can live several centuries and reach more than 18 metres. The landscape, with thousands of palms scattered across rolling grassland beside the river Uruguay, is so singular that it has served as a filming location for productions set in Africa, despite lying in the heart of the Argentine littoral.