Nahuelito (Lago Nahuel Huapi)

Jessica Campbell and Paula Jacarbe are two young women who have had an encounter with a cryptid dwelling in the Argentine Andes. The beast is known as Nahuelito and inhabits a lake known as Lago Nahuel Huapi or the "Lake of the Tiger's Island in the Mapuche Indian dialect. Christian Muller of a conservancy society in the region sent us this story of a notable sighting.

"It was in the summer of 1994 (winter for those living in the Northern Hemisphere) with two women relaxing at the beach by the shores of Nahuel Huapi, in an area known as the Peninsula de San Pedro. There was no wind and the lake was as a sea of oil (this is common during the summer) Suddenly they saw this creature swimming near the shoreat about 18:00hrs.

One of them shouted to the other people to see if anybody had a camera handy to take some shots of the creature. They described Nahuelito as being as big as a whale with it's back showing many humps(like this ~~~) This is something that many people who have seen it agree it is like. She saw small fins it used to swim,and she also remember its breathing. She told me she would never forget this.

Neither of the young women saw the head (the fact is, none of the people who have seen it, have seen the beast's head, unlike in photos of Nessie). After this nerve-wracking experience Jessica sat on a rock by the shore, and 45 minutes later the creature appeared again swimming towards the spot where she was sitting, this time, she told me "I decided to run...". This was her experience, and now I'm going to tell you mine.

It happened 7 years ago. I was working in a place by the lakeshore, 11 kilometres from the centre of Bariloche (Bariloche is the city in the southern part of the lake N.H.). It was almost the beginning of the summer. The day was covered with clouds, low pressure, and no wind. It was the beginning of the fishing season, when the rod and reel fanatics use to wake up early to go fishing (I'm talking of 7:00 A.M. approx.).I was going to my job in a bus which travels along the road by the lake.

In those days I used to sail, and what I took to be a ship on the lake grabbed my attention. I say that it grabbed my attention because it seemed to belong to the Nautical Club, (the wake looked as if it came from a vessel originating from the Club) but what I noticed was the dark color. At that moment I thought: What ship from the club is dark in colour? There were absolutely none I could remember.

So, the bus was traveling in the same direction as the "ship" (until that moment). We were getting nearer, but some trees between the road and the lake didn't permit us to see the lake for a few moments. Suddenly the "ship" disappeared under the water, the driver was also watching this and abruptly stopped the bus and opened the door, someone in the bus shouted Nahuelito, Nahuelito!

That was all, I didn't see fins, head or anything but a big dark object which sunk in the water before our very eyes."

Nahuelito is known to the loacls by a variety of other names such as "El Cuero" - "the leathery one" and "El Manto" - "the cloaked one. Although Christian Muller saw it on a somewhat cloudy day, Nahuelito is generally seen on clear and sunny days at the height of the Argentine summer. Paula Jacarbe also heard the strange breathing of the animal and is fortunate to have a brother who is something of a wiz with electronics. Using his professional quality synthesizer, Mr Jacarbe managed to modulate and imitate the breathing noises and each time he plays this without warning it gives his sister a fright!

In 2006, investigator Scott Corrales shared with Cryptomundo.com a number of photos that were supposedly of the Nahuelito creature and had been left at the front desk of a Bariloche newspaper. The pictures are quite spectacular, so good, in fact, that they appear to be hoaxed. If one looks at the photos as compared to hoaxed pictures staged and taken by Frank Searle in the 1960’s, one can only come to the conclusion that someone has either discovered unpublished Searle photos or has fashioned a model after the Searle fakes. There are also two other false photos of Nahuelito circulating around the internet.

Because Bariloche is in an area where icthyosaur fossils have been uncovered there is speculation that Nahuelito may be one of these animals. However, as there are precious few confirmed reports of sightings of the animal's head there is no way this hypothesis can be proven at this time. In the past officials from the Buenos Aires zoo have launched expeditions to find the creature, but on all occasions were unsuccessful. Today Nahuelito is seemingly unperturbed by the stream of visitors to his habitat which has become Argentina's most popular mountain resort with some of the finest skiing areas in all of South America. Bariloche is also famous for producing some of the finest chocolates in South America and one wonders if a few of these tossed into the lake might attract Nahuelito.