Connemara National Park is one of the six national parks in Ireland. It covers nearly 2,000 hectares of mountains, peat bogs, moors, meadows and forests. There are, among others 19th-century cemetery and 4,000-year-old megalithic tombs. The park is known for its numerous habitats and diversity of birds. They live here, among others Harriers, Kestrels, Sparrowhawks and Peregrine Falcons. You can also meet wrens, pipitos and wading birds.
Many heather species grow in the park, the most common of which are the marsh heather and the gray heather. The landscape owes its characteristic purple color to the blooming red earthquice. There are also insectivorous plants, such as sundew and butterfish. Listera, alpine sorrel and saxifrage grow in the higher altitudes.
The park was founded in 1980. Much of its area was once part of the estate of Kylemore Abbey.