Nilpena Ediacara National Park
Nilpena Ediacara National Park is closed to the public. An official opening is slated for the first half of 2023. When open, access to the park will be by guided tour only. Details
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Nilpena Ediacara National Park is a place of rich cultural heritage and exceptional scientific value, where evidence of the emergence Earth’s earliest complex animal life has been discovered.
The national park was proclaimed in 2021 and incorporates the former Ediacara Conservation Park. It is located on the western fringes of the Flinders Ranges encompassing 60,617 hectares. It is situated on the former Nilpena Pastoral Station and borders Lake Torrens National Park.
In the park’s unassuming hills, an ancient seafloor containing strange early lifeforms some half a billion years old have been exquisitely preserved in the fine sandstone grain. When the park opens in the first half of 2023, visitors will be guided to the Nilpena fossil fields to see first-hand where the significant discovery took place and remains an active research site to this day.
Currently underway is the creation of an immersive Ediacaran fossil experience at the former blacksmith shop, where fossils can be viewed up-close with curated lighting and audio-visual technology. The focal point will be specimen commonly referred as Alice’s Restaurant Bed named after the Arlo Guthrie song that notes it has everything you could ever want.
The Nilpena gateway – a striking stone wall is the entry location to the park with ample parking as it is the area where all visitors will be welcomed and escorted by guided tour to the visitor precinct and fossil fields. There will be no overnight facilities or areas to freely undertake recreation due to site being of huge international significance requiring protection.
Nilpena provides unique photo opportunities with panoramic views of the northern Flinders Ranges as well as permanent springs.
Learn more about Nilpena, the single most important site on the planet for the Ediacaran rise of early animal life.