Banff Park

Banff Park was Canada's first National Park.

It is and hour and a half from Calgary, 3 and a half hours from Edmonton and an easy day-drive from Vancouver. The name Banff comes from the homeland of the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. He was born in Banffshire which was shortened to todays name. Prior to that it was simply know as Siding 29.

The park came to being in 1883 after two Canadian Pacific Railway workers stumbled onto a hot water spring near the south bank of the Bow River. The federal government stepped in to protect the area in 1885 and thus was born the first of 40 National Parks in Canada. 4,000,000 visitor per year come to Banff and Jasper (to the north) receives 2,500,000 per year.

Humans have lived here for about 12,000 years. The first settlers moved into the area as the last great ice-age came to an end. At the same time several local species of animal became extinct including wooly mammoth, camels, cats with sabre-like teeth and other species.