When it is Yellowstone was declared the first national park in 1872 in the world, it was considered huge. However, the explosion of new protected areas in the late 20th and early 21st centuries has put the older generation of national parks to shame when it comes to size.
Some of the newly declared parks are more than 50 times the size of Yellowstone. Let's see which are the biggest by individual continents.
North America
Grenland is a Danish island in the Arctic, but belongs to the North American continent and is geologically part of the Canadian Shield.
It is separated from the American-Arctic Archipelago in the west by Davis Gate, Baffin Bay, Smith Passage, Kane Bay and the Robeson Channel, from Svalbard by the Greenland Sea, and from Iceland by the Denmark Passage. The northernmost point of Greenland, Cape Morris Jesup, is only 740 km from the North Pole.
Stretching over almost half of the largest island in the world (if we exclude Australia, which is a separate continent), Northeast Greenland National Park it is currently the largest national park in the world and the largest terrestrial protected area.
It is hard to imagine its size, which is almost one million square kilometers. Most of the park is covered by the Greenland ice sheet, but the long, indented coast, which is home to musk oxen, polar bears and many other arctic animals, should not be overlooked.
The easiest way to get to the park is from Ittoqqortoormiit, the nearest town, "in the summer by boat, and in the winter by dog sled with our local hunters", describes Mette Pike Barselajsen from Nanu Travel, which offers guided trips to East Greenland.
South America
The largest parks of South America are located in the least populated regions of the continent - Amazonia and Patagonia.
He is the champion in size Chiribiquete National Park in southeastern Colombia that covers 43.000 square kilometers. Encompassing a vast tract of Amazon rainforest, flat-topped tepui mountains and wild rivers, the park is reminiscent of Jurassic Park landscapes. Although there are no dinosaurs in it, many other top predators inhabit it.
To see the 'lost world' of Chiribiquete, it is worth asking at a travel agency Colombia Occulta. This largest tropical rainforest national park in the world was established in 1989 and was expanded twice, in 2013 and five years later.
Australija
The largest nature reserve in Australia was declared recently. Spread over 36.000 square kilometers, the desert national park Munga-Thirri-Simpson it was granted status in 2021 to protect the exceptionally beautiful desert landscapes of South Australia's far north.
Space includes one of the largest dune complexes in the world, acacia forests and spinifex grasslands. In addition to more than 150 species of birds, the park is a habitat for small marsupials, here you can also meet dingoes, wild camels and perentie - Australia's largest lizards.
For now, there are no facilities for visitors or paved roads in the park, so it is best to contact the agency for sightseeing Outback Spirit Adventures which offers two-week guided tours.
Asia
Despite being the largest continent, Asia is lagging behind in the 'race' for the world's largest national parks.
Founded in 2021, Chinese Sanjiangyuan National Park it is currently the largest, covering 123.100 square kilometers. It is a colossal part of the Tibetan Plateau where the largest Chinese rivers originate.
The harsh and remote highlands are home to a number of rare, endangered or vulnerable animal species, from snow leopards and Himalayan wolves to wild yaks and musk deer. You can organize a guided trip through this area through an agency Elevated Trips.
Europe
Given the size of the European continent compared to others, many of Europe's largest parks seem tiny compared to others around the world, but that doesn't mean they're small.
It is by far the biggest Iceland's Vatnajökull National Park which covers 14.141 square kilometers. The reserve is characterized by the "fire and ice" of the island - it is, namely, the land of marvelous volcanoes and hot springs, fjords and glaciers that can be explored independently.
Africa
It is the largest African national park with an area of 49.768 square kilometers Namib Naukluft in western Namibia where you can see some of the highest sand dunes in the world. The dunes - some of them over 200 meters high - were created by the millennial deposition of sand in the oldest desert in the world.
The park is easy to explore in your own vehicle as the main road leads to the colorful dunes of Sossusvlei and the photogenic Deadvlei with its spooky 'forest'. If you want a bird's-eye view, it is possible to organize a balloon flight.
In addition to the legendary dunes, Namib Naukluft is known for desert canyons and flora and fauna adapted to one of the driest places on the planet.
The Namib is also known as site of many shipwrecks, mainly due to the famous Namibian fog. Some of the sunken ships can be found up to 50 meters deep on the coast, as the desert gently slides towards the sea, slowly taking over it.
Antarktika
There is no declared national park on this continent, but there is an official one nature reserve – protected the sea area of the Ross Sea. It covers 1,55 million square kilometers and is home to millions of animals including penguins, whales, seals and seabirds.
There is a possibility that the entire continent will be declared the Antarctic World Park in the future. At 14,2 million square kilometers, this would make it about 10 times the size of any other reserve.
The signatory countries of the Antarctic Treaty concluded a new one international agreement called Protocol on environmental protection which prohibits mining and establishes rules to reduce the impact of tourism and scientific research in order to preserve the environment.
Photo: Unsplash, Oleg Maštruko
Cover photo: Cassie Boca / Unsplash
Source: CNN
