South Australian national parks

There are twenty-eight national parks in Australia's third largest state, and unlike neighbouring New South Wales, national parks in South Australia are only reserved for the finest parks. The state is home to Australia's largest national park, several dry lakes, the vast Flinders Ranges, several fossil sites, one of which is world heritage listed and unusual geological formations.

Understand
Unlike other states, South Australia has a hierarchy when it comes to what is a national park and they are only reserved for the finest landscapes. Some national parks in other Australian states may only be a conservation park, game reserve, recreational area, regional reserves, conservation reserves or a wilderness protection area. Like other states, the state government manages most marine parks that are within 5.5 km from the shore, with the waters further than 5.5 km being managed by Parks Australia.

Park websites
There are two websites that are used by the SA government. Some individual parks or historic sites such as Naracoorte Caves or Adelaide Gaol will have its own website (in this case naracoortecaves.sa.gov.au or adelaidegaol.sa.gov.au), but those are the two main websites used.
 * parks.sa.gov – for all national parks, conservation parks, game reserves or anything on land
 * marineparks.sa.gov – for all marine parks

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972
The "National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972" (also known as the "National Parks Act") is South Australia's primary legislation regarding the establishment and management of protected areas. The act uses the term "reserve" instead of the term "protected area" while the agency administering the act generally uses the term "park". The act concerns the establishment and management of reserves, the establishment of sanctuaries, the conservation of indigenous plants and animals, the declaration of protected animals, the management of protected animals with respect to the collection, capture, breeding and control of hunting.

World heritage national parks
Unlike other states, South Australia only has a single world-heritage listed national park, Naracoorte Caves National Park. However, in April 2021, the Flinders Ranges were added to the tentative list, which include Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, Nilpena Ediacara National Park and Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park.

Get in
Most national parks will have at least one public road to get in, but some such as Lake Torres NP don't have any, and you will have to use private roads, often with permits required. Getting one might take days, if not weeks and you will need to do some planning in advance.

If you are going to a park in the Outback, make sure to check the SA government's Outback Road Warnings report before leaving.

National parks
As a key, a shaded turquoise background indicates the park is part of a UNESCO World Heritage List site while a shaded orange background indicates the park is part of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. A red background indicates that it is on the tentative list for world heritage.