Colhue Huapi Lake

Colhue Huapi is an intermittent lake in southern Chubut, paired with Lake Musters as the terminal basin of the endorheic Senguerr River system. At full extent it lies about 310 metres above sea level and stretches 35 to 40 kilometres northwest to southeast. Its wide surface is shallow and behaves like a giant lagoon, with peninsulas, islands and low, changeable shores.

Several channels feed the basin. The Falso Senguer is its recognized tributary, while the Zanjón del Cerro Negro usually loses water before reaching the lake except during extraordinary floods. Wind and evaporation can uncover broad mudflats, and water returns after heavy rain. In the deep past, Colhue Huapi and Musters formed one larger lake; it later shrank and separated into two basins.

The Mapuche name links the water to a reddish place or reddish island. Hunter-gatherers left tombs, rock art and traces of daily life around the lake, which offered more dependable food and water than the neighboring Musters. Reeds and shallow edges created places where people, birds and grazing animals gathered. The lake and its low hills therefore preserve a long record of seasonal movement across the Patagonian steppe.