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Home Attraction Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park in the Northwest Territories The winter aurora dances behind Pine lake Cabins in in Wood Buffalo National Park in the spectacular Northwest Territories The salt plains of Wood Buffalo National Park in the NWT A pelican in Wood Buffalo National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories

Wood Buffalo National Park

Communities

Fort Smith Wood Buffalo Waterfall Route

Attractions Type

Landmark National Park
Bigger than Switzerland, this is Canada’s largest park – and maybe its most intriguing. Founded to protect the Western Hemisphere’s most hefty land animal, the rare Wood Bison, the 44,807 square-kilometre Wood Buffalo National Park comprises sweeping boreal forests, the massive Peace-Athabasca freshwater delta and the otherworldly Salt Plains.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site for its biological diversity, Wood Buffalo National Park is also an incredible spot for stargazing. Back in 2013, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada declared Wood Buffalo as the world’s largest dark-sky preserve. The classification helps protect the nighttime ecology of the park’s bats, nighthawks and owls, and also creates an unrivalled experience for visitors. Every year travellers from all over the world arrive for the annual Dark Sky Festival to peer up at oceans of stars and dancing ribbons of Aurora.

Wood Buffalo offers excellent backcountry camping as well as cozy cabin options. There’s no shortage of hikes here either, ranging from easy loops of under a kilometre to more difficult 14-km treks through field and forest trails. Wildlife in the park include wolves, black bears, the world’s last surviving whooping cranes and, of course, bison. Best of all, the park is road-accessible year round from friendly Fort Smith.