Nilpena Ediacara  Tours, in collaboration with the Prairie Hotel are pleased to offer an extended Nilpena fossil tour to the active fossil research site in addition to the 2 hour visitor precinct tour. 

Experience the earliest evidence of complex, multicellular life on earth, with Nilpena Station pastoralist Ross Fargher, who discovered the Nilpena fossils in 1986.

The most intact and significant Ediacara fossil beds in the world, they are crucial to understanding the evolution of animal life on earth.  As subject of Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Life on Earth’, with funding by NASA to ongoing research, and being the cornerstone of the SA Government’s 2018 nomination of The Flinders Ranges for World Heritage Listing, it is evident the significance of the Nilpena Ediacara Fossil Fields is extraordinary!

Discover a new perspective through which to view the world. 555 million years ago the Flinders Ranges were a shallow tropical sea closer to the equator. With photosynthesis and rise of oxygen levels, animal life exploded. Evidence of these soft bodied creatures was first discovered in the Ediacara Hills, north of Nilpena, and officially recognised and recorded as the Ediacara Biota in 2004.

It is testament to Ross and Jane Fargher that respectful research has been encouraged, and in surrendering two thirds of their pastoral lease to National Parks, ensuring custodianship and protection of the area in perpetuity.