I have written a book on this intriguing subject which has just been published. In this blog I will post excerpts and other interesting texts on this fascinating subject.
The ultimate guide to Patagonia's cryptids, mythical beasts and legendary creatures.
From lake monsters to giants, from dwarves to surviving prehistoric beasts: a Patagonian bestiary.
If you find any useful information, or just like my blog, a link back would be great!
Austin Whittall
AW
Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Patagonia has always bewitched me with its incredible beauty, its vast solitude and its mysteries. This blog reflects my love for this, the most beautiful place in the whole world.
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La Patagonia me ha hechizado desde siempre con su increíble belleza, su vasta soledad y sus misterios. Este blog refleja mi amor por el lugar más hermoso de todo el mundo.
Leaving my series of posts on Denisovans, Neanderthals and modern humans, this post will go back to the basics of this blog, Patagonian "monsters". The video in the link below is captioned "Strange Lights in the Nahuel Huapi", it shows what in my opinion is a wave front on a calm lake, seen from a mountain called Cerro Otto (street view from the mountain), overlooking the lake Nahuel Huapi in Bariloche, Argentina. It was published on August 27, 2025.
The "lights" are the reflection of the sun on these waves. This is the link to the Youtube video shown below.
No monster, just a wave.
It could be a soliton or the wake of a boat on the other side of the lake.
Solitons sound like some particle from quantum physics, but they were discovered by a classic Victorian scientist, J. Scott Russell in 1845. He was a Scotsman, a civil engineer and a naval engineer. One day and he observed a strange wave formed by a boat in a canal that traveled several miles along it without decaying. He wrote an article about this stange phenomenon, in 1845. Waves are supposed to lose energy and fade away, this one, on the other hand, remained coherent-
The name Soliton is now used to describe these waves "solit" from "solitary" wave, and the "-on" suffix in an analogy to the one used for elementary particles (electron, photon, proton, etc.)
The "solitary wave" or "soliton" are a special type of wave, that once they form move constantly in the same direction with no changes in the height of the wave, its interval (frequency) or shape. They don't dissipate, they maintain their form and can travel long distances from the spot they were created.
They form in the sea, in rivers, lakes, and canals. Wind, tides, shallow water, water layers with different temperatures, ships, and underwater topograph can contribute to their formation.
Johen Scott Russell pointed out that "if a wave is too big for the depth of water, it splits into two, one big and one small" with the bigger one traveling faster than the smaller one. Over time they will become separate waves. But there are other mechanisms that can split solitons even in deep water forming a train of waves that travel together over an otherwise flat body of water. These trains can contain between two and six separate waves.
Professor Sergei Eremenko describes this in his book and includes photographs like the one below.
Soliton in Lakw Wakatipu, NZ.
The video is captioned: "Unstoppable like tsunami, soliton envelope wave packet, composed from two distinct sub-groups, slowly cruising Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand."
The same type of wave trains can be seen in Patagonia. Below is a soliton observed in Lake Nahuel Huapi on Feb 16, 2020. The viewers thought they were seeing the activities of the famous "Nahuelito". But a scientist consulted by the press suggested it was a soliton (source),
2020 Soliton in Lake Nahuel Huapi.
As expected, the video mentions "Nahuelito," ignoring the scientific explanation.
In recent posts I have suggested that waves are a reasonable explanation for mysterious lake creatures, especially single wave fronts that look like the wake left by a submerged animal.
Lake Mascafrdi is U-shaped and is fed by the meltwater from the glaciers of Mount Tronador which enter its NW tip. Its NE tip on the other hand is a wide valley, with a marshy area that marks the continental divide. Just north of the divide is Lake Gutierrez that drains into the Atlantic Ocean through Lake Nahuel Huapi and the Limay and Negro Rivers. Mascardi, on the other hand, drains west through the Lower Manso River on its SW shore, which eventually reaches the Pacific Ocean throught Puelo River.
It is set at an elevation of 750 m (2,460 ft.), and has a surface area of 39,2 km2 (15 sq.mi.). It is deep (on average 218 m - 715 ft.), and in the past its waters had a greenish tint due to the glacial sediments from Mt. Tronador.
The map shows Mascardi (bottom-center), the city of Bariloche on Lake Nahuel Huapi (upper right), Mt. Tronador (upper left). The red arrow marks the spot of the sighting.
Lake Mascardi map
The "serpent"
The following video was published in the news on March 14, 2018 as "Two families assure having seen a 'long serpent' in Lake Mascadri? (source)
The video on youtube, is shown below:
Lake Creature?
This is the story published in the media:
Maricel Gómez, who lives in Bariloche, and her family stopped at a service station (ACA Mascardi - see a Google Street view at this spot, red arrow in the map below).
The lake was calm and they saw a "wake", Maricel described the incident as follows:
"The lake was completely calm and suddenly I saw like a large serpent coming in and out of the water. What protruded above the water was a black, large back, and when it went underwater it left a long wake like two meteres, although that is what it seemed like from a distance, the wake was very long, like those left by planes in ths sky... The hump of the back emerged and submerged in the water, it did so like six times. We all saw it. Even, Cinthia [her sister] thought it was the tail of a snake. We couldn't believe it, we imagined it was a fish or a diver, but no. It was crossing the whole lake, but very far from us."
In my opinion, probably a fish, a diving bird like a huala, a special type of wave known as a soliton, or even the wake of a distant boat. Not a "serpent".
I have fished on the lake in a boat, picnicked on its northern tip by Fresco Creek, trekked its shore to lake Llum, and from the Casalata Creek to the Upper Manso River. I have driven along its coast on Ruta 40 and on the Tronador highway (all these spots can be seen on the map). I never saw anything odd. Just a regular Patagonian Lake.
Lake Mascardi Top: central part, Mt. Bonete. Middle: Heart Island. Bottom: Mt. Tronador seen from the lake.
Lake Lolog is a glacial lake with a surface area of 35 km2 (13.5 sq.mi.) set at an elevation of 900 m (2,952 ft.). It is located 9 km (5.7 mi.) north of San Martín de los Andes in Neuquén, Argentina. Its western tip is part of the Lanin National Park.
Its name comes from "lolo" = mouse, and "hue" = place, a place with many mice. There are different species of rodents like the long-tailed mouse (Oligoryzomys longicaudatus) living in the forests.
Long and narrow, it flows eastwards along the Quilquihue River and its water reaches the Atlantic Ocean along the Chimehuin, Collón Curá, Limay and Negro Rivers.
Its western part is surrounded by steep mountains and the dense Andean forest, to the east it is drier, with an open wooded area, that gradually blends into the steppe.
Lake Lolog. Eastern tip and Quilquihue River (top), western tip (bottom).
Creature or waves?
The following video taken in 2018 shows a wake on the surface of a relatively calm lake. The caption video says "25-10-18 where you can see strange waves in Lake Lolog that can only be caused by the "Monster of Lake Kolog", known fondly as "Lologuito"."
Lake Lolog waves.
Trains of waves, the wake of a boat, a sudden burst of the potent Patagonian wind can cause a phenomenon like the one shown in this video. I think it is just waves. No animal involved.
The wind in Patagonia is strong and turns up unexpectedly. When it does, it can stir up a wave front on a calm lake like the one shown in the video below (online).
The video posted on Instagram was jokingly titled "Mounstro del lago Panguipulli" (Lake Panguipulli Monster), and all the comments joke about it being waves, a wave front, kurruf, which is the Mapuche word for wind.
The lake is set at low altitde (140 m - 460 ft.), and is almost 30 km long (18.50 mi.), its maximum widht is almost 15 km (9.2 mi.) it covers an area of 117 km2 (45 sq.mi.) and reaches a depth of nearly 270 m (880 ft.), its name means "Land of pumas".
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