Khenifiss National Park also known as Le Parc National Khenifiss in French and it’s a national park found in the southwest of Morocco, it’s also located near Akhfeniron on the Atlantic coast in the region of Laayoune-Sakia El Hmra. The park was established in 2006. The park covers an area of 1,850km². The main aim for the establishment of the park was to protect desert, wetlands, and coastal dunes.
To become a park, it transformed through a number of phases including first being a natural reserve in 1960, and in 1980, it was named as a wetland of international importance. In 1983, the natural reserve was turned into a Permanent Biological Reserve, and strictly on September 2006, it was turned into a national park.
The park is also located at the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, it’s also between the towns of Tan-Tan (north) and Tarfaya (south). The park can be accessed via the national route 1 which runs along the Atlantic coast of Morocco hence making accessing the park the easiest way to go.
The Khenifiss lagoon is referred to as the biggest lagoon at the Moroccan coast and this lies at the coastal portion and the inland portion which is situated on desert plateaus. This lagoon is where a number of bird species have their nests. Bird’s species such as Ruddy Shelduck, Marbled Duck and the Audouin’s Gull resides at the lagoon permanently while a big number of species migrate to the lagoon during winter. It’s estimated that every year around 20,000 birds stay in the lagoon area in the winter season.
The inland part includes sabkhas and has got a Sahara landscapes, it also entails the sand dunes and limestone plateaus. Currently the government has an intention to turn the park into a tourist attraction specializing in ecotourism.
