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Nahuelbuta National Park lies in the Nahuelbuta Range, part of the Chilean Coastal Range, between the communes of Angol and Purén in the Araucanía Region. The park covers about 6,800 hectares and is accessible by road from Angol and Cañete on the coast. Its forests reach about 1,400 m, and the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), a conifer usually associated with the high Andes, survives here in an isolated stand near the Pacific.

The Valdivian Coastal Reserve lies in the Cordillera Pelada of Chile's Los Ríos Region, in the communes of Corral and La Unión, about 40 km southwest of Valdivia. It covers roughly 50,000 hectares and 36 km of Pacific coastline, and is a private reserve owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). Together with the adjoining Alerce Costero National Park, it protects more than 60,000 hectares of the Valdivian temperate forests.

Alerce Costero National Park, in Chile's Cordillera Pelada, protects forests of the endangered alerce, or Patagonian cypress, including the Gran Abuelo, a tree at least 3,600 years old and possibly far older. It adjoins the much larger Valdivian Coastal Reserve, a private reserve owned by The Nature Conservancy that is the largest protected area in the Chilean Coastal Range. As a result, the park forms one core of a large protected stretch of the Valdivian temperate forests.

The Chilean Coastal Range and Central Valley form two distinctive features that run parallel along Chile's length, shaping its climate, agriculture, and urban life. The Coastal Range rises as a barrier between the Pacific Ocean and the interior, while the Central Valley lies between these coastal mountains and the Andes, forming Chile's fertile and populated corridor. Together with the Andes, they record the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath South America, and they define where rain falls, where forests grow, where crops flourish, and where cities rise.

Peru's western coastline, a ribbon of aridity against the vast Pacific, cradles a remarkable tapestry of desert landscapes, each possessing its own distinct character and ecological significance. Among these arid expanses, the Sechura Desert and the coastal desert region that includes the famed Nazca Desert stand out as compelling examples of nature's artistry and life's enduring spirit in extreme conditions.

The Iguazú River is one of South America's most consequential waterways, not only for the world-famous falls that bear its name but for the long course it travels beforehand through the landscapes of Brazil and Argentina. Originating in the Serra do Mar coastal range, the river winds westward for well over a thousand kilometers, supporting diverse ecosystems and regional communities, before culminating in the dramatic cascades of Iguazú Falls.

Iguaçu Falls, known as Cataratas do Iguaçu in Brazil and Cataratas del Iguazú in Argentina, is one of the world's most magnificent natural spectacles. The Brazilian side offers a view found nowhere else: a single, sweeping panorama of nearly the entire waterfall system at once, rather than the closer, cascade-by-cascade perspective the Argentine park offers. Spanning 2.7 km and featuring around 275 individual waterfalls, Iguaçu is nearly three times as wide as North America's Niagara Falls and considerably broader than Africa's Victoria Falls.

Iguazú Falls, straddling the Argentina-Brazil border, is one of the world's most spectacular natural wonders. This waterfall system is divided into 150 to 300 individual falls, depending on the river's flow, including the iconic Devil's Throat, and draws millions of visitors annually. The falls are surrounded by lush subtropical rainforest protected on both sides of the border, known in Brazil as Iguaçu National Park and in Argentina as Iguazú National Park, together forming a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its biodiversity and conservation significance.

In Venezuela's Aragua and Carabobo states, sandwiched between Lake Valencia and the Caribbean coast, Henri Pittier National Park was Venezuela's first national park. Established under a different name nearly nine decades ago, the park has since become one of the most significant sites for bird conservation in the Americas relative to its size, and its coastal reaches shelter a village whose cacao chocolatiers worldwide consider among the finest on Earth.

Stretching along Venezuela's northern coast, the Venezuelan Coastal Range, known locally as the Cordillera de la Costa, forms a natural boundary between the Caribbean Sea and the northern plains. Extending from Sucre in the east to Zulia in the west, this mountain range is more than just a physical barrier—it is a region of rich biodiversity, deep cultural history, and significant economic importance.