Litchfield National Park

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Litchfield National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)

Nearest town/city:	Adelaide River
Coordinates:	13°03′17″S, 130°54′18″E
Area:	1,461.18 km²
Managing authorities:	Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory
Official site:	[1]

Litchfield National Park is in the Northern Territory (Australia), 129km out of Darwin and covering around 148 square km of land. Proclaimed a national park in 1986, it is named after Fred Litchfield, a Territory pioneer, who explored areas of the Northern Territory from Escape Cliffs on the Timor Sea to the Daly River in 1864. Features of the park include the termite mounds and the "Lost City", an area of bizarre sandstone block and pillar formations which have been sculpted by wind and rain over thousands of years. The landscape of Litchfield National Park is made up of open Eucalyptus bushland, dense monsoonal rainforests and the rocky escarpement of the Table Top range, which feeds the many waterfalls and the clear pools of water they cascade into. During the dry season the park is a magnet for people looking for a refreshing swim. Crocodiles do not seem to be as much a threat in Litchfield as they are in other Northern Territory parks, such as Kakadu National Park. This is due to the safety-conscious and conservative nature of Park Rangers who oversee the national park year-round.

Litchfield National Park attracts approximately Two-hundred and fifty thousand visitors per year. Originally it was the home to the Aboriginal Wagait people.

The park was, for some 75 years until the mid 1900's, the site of active copper and tin mining operations. It then became bound by pastoral lease before being labelled a protected area.

Notable tourist locations include: Wangi Falls Buley Rockhole Florence Falls Sandy Creek Falls and more