Naracoorte Caves National Park, UNESCO World Heritage caves in Limestone Coast, South Australia.
Naracoorte Caves National Park protects 6 km² of remnant vegetation around Naracoorte in South Australia's Limestone Coast, with 26 caves inside a 3.05 km² World Heritage Area. Of 28 known caves, four are open to the public; the rest are reserved for research and protection. The limestone formed from coral and marine creatures 200 million and again 20 million years ago, and groundwater later dissolved it into chambers; the latest research dates cave formation to at least 1.34 million years ago.
Blanche Cave was the first cave encountered by Europeans, in 1845. In 1885 the Department of Woods and Forests appointed a caretaker because the caves were popular and vulnerable to vandalism. About 20 hectares passed in 1916 to the Immigration, Publicity and Tourist Bureau, gazetted on 1 March 1917, and ran as a national pleasure resort until 1972. The park became a conservation park in 1972, part of the World Heritage List on 17 December 1994, and a national park on 18 January 2001.
The park's name comes from the nearby town of Naracoorte. Its visitor centre, the Wonambi Fossil Centre, displays fossils and bones found in the caves alongside dioramas of extinct animals, and the caves are shown by guided interpreters. Thousands of southern bent-wing bats breed each year in Bat Cave, whose interior visitors view through modern technology rather than entering.
Visitors can walk through several accessible caves daily, with guided tours being the best way to explore the underground features. It is advisable to wear comfortable shoes and prepare for changing light conditions and different floor surfaces.
The area holds one of Australia's largest collections of remains from extinct animals dating back hundreds of thousands of years, including bones from giant marsupials that once roamed the region. These fossils provide insight into the animals that lived in prehistoric times.
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