Araucarias and Volcano

Araucarias (Chile pines) presenting an exotic, almost surreal, landscape on the slopes of Lanin Volcano. Straddling the border of Chile and Argentina, the volcano's summit is at 3,747 m. I waited for a brief moment when the volcano’s summit was clear of cloud to capture this image.

These charismatic trees were introduced to Britain in the 19th century, where barrister and philanthropist Charles Austin remarked "It would puzzle a monkey to climb that". This resulted in the common name "Monkey Puzzle Tree". In fact Chile has no monkeys so in nature the issue does not arise.