Introduction
If you are relaxing in Puerto Natales or have a few hours to kill, a visit to the Milodon cave is well worth a visit. This is a spacious cave that penetrates a couple of hundred metres into conglomerate rock. Formed millions of years in the past, the cave is called the “Milodon” after a prehistoric creature whose bones were found in the cave. There is a sculpture of the creature that stands near the entrance.
Conglomerate rock is comprised of millions of pebbles and small stones that were brought down with the river or rivers and deposited over millions of years, layer over layer, to be mixed with sediment and compressed with considerable force into a kind of natural concrete.
We will include a visit to the Milodon Cave in your itinerary, with transfers there and back, if you have the time available and, of course, you want to make the visit.
However, we only offer this visit as part of the rest of your itinerary that we will have arranged and not as a standalone.
Description
The caves that were formed here are a result of waves from a lake or sea that gradually penetrated the rock creating an indentation. Over time the indentation became a hole, and the hole grew larger and larger until one day, when the water receded, a cave was left. Considering that the caves were ideal, natural protection from the elements they were used by indigenous people and animals as places to shelter.
The site was declared an Historical Monument in 1968 by the Chilean Ministry of Education. However, in 1993 it was categorized as a Natural Historical Monument, incorporated into the “Sistema Natural de Areas Silvestres Protegidas” (SNASPE), which basically means it is part of the Network of Protected Natural Wildlife Areas. It has an official area of 189.5 hectares. Within this protected area are four interesting areas. These are: “La Silla del Diablo” (the Devil’s chair), a small cave, a medium-sized cave and the large, Milodon cave. It is also the start of a trek that goes north, past the caves and up to the top of the conglomerate rock where there are other historical caves and a panoramic view over Laguna Sofia.
How to Get to the Milodon Cave?
The cave is situated 25km from Puerto Natales village centre. If you are driving out from Puerto Natales you need to take the road north that passes by the fiord, which is actually the Ruta 9. Continue on this road for 16.9km until you get to a crossing where you turn left (it will be sign-posted to Milodon Cave as well as Torres del Paine).
You will now be on a road, which is officially the Y-290. Continue on this road for about 8km and you will arrive to the car park and entrance point for the Milodon cave. There will be a CONAF park entry hut where you will need to buy an entrance ticket.
