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Great Barrier Reef Travel Guide

Travel to Great Barrier Reef - The World's Largest Coral Formation

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The Great Barrier Reef is a coral formation, the largest in the world, located off the Pacific coast of Queensland, Australia. It is home to a spectacular array of marine life and offers awesome diving opportunities. It consists of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands which stretch for 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres (133,000 sq mi).

The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world's biggest single structure made by living organisms. It supports a wide diversity of life, and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981 and a large part of it is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which helps to limit the impact of human use, such as overfishing and tourism.

Attractions in Great Barrier Reef

Visitors can see thirty species of whales, dolphins and porpoises including the dwarf minke whale, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and the humpback whale as well as large populations of dugongs. There are also six species of sea turtles to see; salt water crocodiles which live on the coast near the reef; around 125 species of shark, stingray and skates or chimera; 17 species of sea snake; plentiful coral and more than 1,500 species of fish including the clownfish, red bass, red-throat emperor and several species of snapper and coral trout.

Activities in Great Barrier Reef

Many cities along the Queensland coast offer daily boat trips to the reef and they vary from single day trips to longer voyages. Glass-bottomed boats and underwater observatories are also popular, as are helicopter flights.

However, by far, the most popular tourist activities on the Great Barrier Reef are snorkelling and diving.