The Katmai National Park and Preserve is an area in southwestern Alaska, US, most noted for its wilderness and distinctive geologic features.
Named after Mount Katmai, the park has 18 individual volcanoes out of which seven are active. In fact, the area was made a national monument in 1918, six years after the violent eruption of the Novarupta Volcano.
One of the important landmarks of the Katmai National Park is the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. It was a green valley that got converted into an ash-filled wasteland after the eruption of the Novarupta.
The park is also noted for its lakes, forests, rivers, marshlands and wildlife. The Snowshoe hare, Alaskan moose, Canadian lynx, wolverine, river otter, mink, red fox, weasel, marten etc., are some of the mammals in the area. There are also marine mammals like the harbour seal, sea lion and sea otter. However, the most prominent animal here is the Alaskan brown bear. Katmai has the world’s largest protected brown bear population.