Canada
Nahanni National Park
Photo in the Public Domain
Nahanni National Park covers a spectacular wild river landscape further adorned with features of ongoing geological processes.
The centerpiece of the park is the South Nahanni River. Four great canyons line this whitewater river and it also holds one of North America’s most impressive waterfalls, Virginia Falls. The area sees tectonic activity, which has resulted in spectacular granitic peaks and hot springs.
Community Perspective: this is a remote and costly area to visit – you generally fly in and then continue on the river by canoe or raft. Sid and Gary did so, and Zoë has described a flightseeing day trip.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Nahanni National Park (ID: 24)
- Country
- Canada
- Status
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Inscribed 1978
Site history
History of Nahanni National Park
- WHS Type
- Natural
- Criteria
- vii
- viii
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- pc.gc.ca — Parks Canada
News Article
- June 10, 2009 newswire.ca — Nahanni Gets Six-fold Expansion
Community Information
- Community Category
- Natural landscape: Eroded
- Natural landscape: Karst landscapes and caves
Travel Information
Seasonal WHS
One thousand visitors or fewer
Recent Connections
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Full White Nights
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One thousand visitors or fewer
“There are only a few hundred visitors … -
Cryptozoology
"The area is also known for its cryptid…
Connections of Nahanni National Park
- Geography
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Full White Nights
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Canyons
Four smaller canyons -
Cirques
Cirque of the Unclimbables in NahanniSee en.wikipedia.org
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- Trivia
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Reportedly haunted locations
"Many tribes were afraid to settle within the region as they believed it to be an evil, haunted place inhabited by various spirits, specters, and devils." There is also a legend of violent deaths: multiple people have been found dead with their head cut off and nowhere to be found. "In addition to the mysterious beheadings, a good many others simply went missing without a trace. (...) Other phenomena have been reported from here as well. Mysterious lights and UFOs have long been sighted in the valley, as well as other unusual aerial phenomena." -
Cryptozoology
"The area is also known for its cryptids, as it is a hotspot for Bigfoot activity and is believed by some to hold a remnant population of a type of bear-like carnivore called the bear dog, or Amphicyonidae, which was thought to have gone extinct in the Pleistocene epoch."
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- Ecology
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Significant Karst Features
World's foremost example of karst development in cold climate conditions. (AB ev) -
Travertine pools
At Rabbitkettle Hot Springs: "The water emerges in a central pool at the top of the mound and flows downward through a terrace of surrounding pools. The travertine walls of these pools can be as tall as 30 cm (12 in), and range in colour from grey to off-white." (wiki)See en.wikipedia.org
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Big Waterfalls
Virginia Falls -
Bears
Grizzly bears -
Gray Wolf
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Taiga
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- Religion and Belief
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Legends and Folk Myths
Deadmen Valley: "the area is long known for having people disappear only to turn up without their heads"
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- WHS on Other Lists
- Timeline
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Cretaceous
Dramatic mountain-building began approximately 110 million years ago when molten volcanic rock from deep within the earth rose to within 3000 m of the surface where it hardened and cooled. This force pushed up the sedimentary rock above and around the intrusion, creating the mountain ranges that surround the Nahanni River. (Parks Canada website)
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- Visiting conditions
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Seasonal WHS
charter flights only between June to September and the rivers would be frozen in winter so rafting/canoeing is out of the question - which are the only two realistic ways to access it -
No road access
By float plane or canoe/kayak (although hiking is also possible) -
One thousand visitors or fewer
“There are only a few hundred visitors each year” (IUCN Outlook 2020), but straddles between 770 and 1302 in the period 2010-2020.See www.statista.com
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- WHS Names
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Named after a River
South Nahanni River
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News
- newswire.ca 06/10/2009
- Nahanni Gets Six-fold Expansion
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
Show full reviews
Many people, including Canadians, do not realize how inaccessible many parts of Canada is. Nahanni National Park in Northwest Territories has no roads to or within it, and the only ways to enter is by floatplane or by canoe/white-water raft.
As to how I got there, I drove approximately 622 kilometres from Wood Buffalo National Park to Fort Simpson in 2017. Almost to Fort Simpson, actually, as I missed the last ferry across Liard River and had to sleep in my car until the morning. After crossing into Fort Simpson the next morning, I got on a floatplane (Simpson Air) for a day trip to Nahanni National Park. A year after my trip, a Simpson Air flight that went on the same run that I did, crashed into a lake, and three tourists died.
Nahanni National Park is a breathtakingly beautiful, vast, and wild. Most floatplane day trip visitors will stop at immense Virginia Falls and tranquil Glacier Lake. Those who are healthy, experienced in wild rivers, and adventurous (and have time and money) will, I am sure, see much more unreal scenery by canoe/raft.
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Nahanni was my last Canadian WHS and there's a good reason for it. It's not exactly tough to get in but you need to have the right timing and definitely money, not crazy amounts but let's say you spend less flying to Belize and back than getting there domestically. Moneywise we are talking a couple of thou easily and that's just for the flightseeing. You won't save money on the alternatives and it will take you heaps longer. So I finally managed to see it this year after Covid, park closures (park closed again due to wildfires this year just after I went in July) and not being in Canada in summer most years doesn't help too. The season to visit the park is only from June to September and we are talking LATE June to EARLY September if you want to have a good experience.
There are three ways to visit the park. One is to hike in...yeah well I figured I should mention it. If you are on of those (you'd have to Canadian to be crazy enough) then you still have to either get dropped in by plane or take your own car to the Nahanni Butte which is a former First Nation village and nowadays has nothing. There are some small towns nearby. Having said that, it's a looong drive to the Butte. You will have to be hardcore into this trip to drive up and then cayak around and it takes a day to …
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Nahanni National Park might very well be the greatest national park in the world. That is a big statement, but anyone who has been to Nahanni (and few people have) can back it up.
Nahanni is home to one of the world's largest waterfalls (Virginia Falls) which is higher than Niagara Falls and has a flow comparable with Victoria Falls in Africa.
That alone would be enough to make it a world heritage sites. However, it is also home to the Cirque du Unclimables, which is a stunning collection of mountain peaks, and the Ram Canyon, which is one of the most impressive canyons in the world.
Nahanni only gets about 800 visitors per year. There are no roads to the park, so the only way to enter is by hiking or float plane. There is also a very short season of about 2 months where visitors can enter.
It has been almost twenty years since I had the awe-inspiring and quite humbling experience of sticking my (and my buddy's) canoe into the river and wending down one of the most beautiful spots one could imagine on earth.
For the first three days after the plane dropped us off, we (veterans of canoe/kayak trips much longer than this one) were like tourists -- gawking agape at the size, beauty, and power of the river, its attendant mountain peaks, and the furry/feathered creatures that called this jewel home. It was, and is, like nothing I had seen before or since.
Enjoy your trip to this wilderness paradise!
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