Daintree National Park

Daintree National Park Queensland
IUCN category II (national park)
A typical rainforest scene in Daintree National Park
Daintree National Park
Nearest town or city	Daintree
Coordinates	15°57′33″S 145°24′07″E / 15.95917°S 145.40194°E / -15.95917; 145.40194Coordinates: 15°57′33″S 145°24′07″E / 15.95917°S 145.40194°E / -15.95917; 145.40194
Established	1988
Area	1,200 km2 (463.3 sq mi)
Managing authorities	Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
Website	Daintree National Park
See also	Protected areas of Queensland

The Daintree rainforest is a national park in Far North Queensland, Australia, 1,502 km (933 mi) northwest of Brisbane and 100 km (62 mi) northwest of Cairns. It was founded in 1981 and is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland. In 1988 it became a World Heritage Site. The park consists of two sections, with a settled agricultural area between them which includes the towns of Mossman and Daintree Village.

One entrance to Daintree National Park is located south of the Daintree River at Mossman Gorge where a visitor centre has been built from where tourists take a shuttle bus to the gorge, where they can take a walk or a refreshing swim..

The most spectacular and oldest part of the Daintree rain forest is north of the Daintree River. After crossing the river on an old fashioned cable ferry there is a range of boardwalks and untouched beaches to explore, and the endangered cassowary can be encountered anywhere.

Daintree National Park is valued because of its exceptional biodiversity. It contains significant habitat for rare species and prolific birdlife. The name is derived from the Daintree River, which was named by George Elphinstone Dalrymple, an early explorer of the area, after his friend Richard Daintree.

The Great Dividing Range is close to the coast in this region. This section covers 56,500 ha of mostly inaccessible rainforests and mountain woodlands. The popular Mossman Gorge is located in the southern part of the park.

Cape Tribulation also lies in the park. Originally the cape belonged to Cape Tribulation National Park from 1981 but was amalgamated into Daintree National Park in 1983. This section covers 17,000 ha including the coastal range (Thornton's Peak, Mt Hemmant, and Mt Sorrow, going north from the Daintree river) and contains Australia's last extensive stands of lowland rainforest. It has extensive (and relatively) unspoiled beaches from Thornton beach to Cape Tribulation beach - fringed with the increasingly rare littoral (beachside) rainforest. The Daintree river is the southern boundary for the region - reinforced by the need to take a cable ferry across the Daintree river. Much of the coastal flatlands, especially to the south of the Alexandra range, and in Cow Bay, were cleared for agriculture in the late 1800s with a major clearing push in the 1970s. A lot of this has since recovered or has been settled.