Some natural forests in the world are so old, that it is
difficult to even put a date to them. However, thanks to modern scientific techniques, scientists
are now able to roughly pinpoint the age of some of the world’s oldest forests.
Still present
on almost every continent (sorry Antarctica), there are ancient forests in nearly every corner of
the world.
While all of the forests on this list are protected sites and remained largely
untouched for many millennia, in recent years, nearly all of the forests — particularly the
rainforests — have had large portions destroyed by human activities, especially logging. Fortunately
there are conservation laws in place and many people have dedicated their lives to ensuring that
these forests are around for future generations.
11. Tarkine Rainforest
Age: Unknown for sure – at least 3,000 years
Location: North west
Tasmania, Australia
Area: 695 sq mi (1,800 km2)
Forest Type: Cool-Temperate
Rainforest
The Tarkine Rainforest largest area of Gondwanan cool-temperate rainforest in Australia. The
Gondwanan rainforests were named after the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana – which existed
between 500 — 180 million years ago — because the fossil shows that the present-day rainforests
contain many of the same species as the rainforests covering Gondwana.
The Tarkine Rainforest’s
exact age is unknown, but it is believed to be quite ole and is at least 3,000 years old like the
forest’s oldest trees.
Like all of the rainforests on this list, the Tarkine Rainforest has
been critically threatened by logging and other human activities. Fortunately, there is a strong
conservation effort to save the remaining Tarkine Forest.
In 2005, the Tasmanian and Australian
governments agreed to protect an additional 70,000 hectares of rainforest in the Tarkine from
logging.
10. Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
Age: over 5,000 years
Location: Inyo National Forest, White Mountains,
California, USA
Area: 43.75 sq mi (113.3 km2)
Forest Type: Bristlecone Pine
Forest
As its name suggests, the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is renown for its many Great Basin
bristlecone pines, which are some of the oldest trees in the world. The Ancient Bristlecone Pine
Forest is most likely much older, but it is at least 5,000 years old (the age of its oldest
trees).
There are several different notable trees within the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest,
including Methuelah and the Patriarch Tree, which is the world’s largest known bristlecone
pine.
The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is open to visitors, but the locations of some of the
forest’s oldest trees are not made available to the public.
9. Yakushima Forest
Age: over 7,000 years
Location: Yakushima, Japan
Area: 73.2 sq
mi (189.6 km2)
Forest Type: Warm-Temperate Ancient Forest
Yakushima Island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and contains the remnants
of a warm-temperate ancient forest that is unique to this part of the world. While no one knows for
sure how old Yakushima Forest is, one of its oldest trees, the Jōmon Sugi (yakusugi (Japanese
cedar)), is believed to be over 7,000 years old!
In addition to being an ancient forest,
Yakushima Forest is one of the world’s most beautiful forest, with many visitors noting that it
looks like the scene of a fairy tale.
Red-bottomed macaques (Yakushima macaque) and a variety
of sika deer (yakushika) are native to Yakushima Island and forest. According to some visitors, the
macaques and deer have a symbiotic relationship and the monkeys sometimes ride on the backs of the
deer.
8. Pando
Age: over 80,000 years
Location: Fishlake National Forest, Utah,
USA
Area: 106 acres (43 ha)
Forest Type: Clonal Colony of Quaking Aspen
Despite appearing to be an enormous grove of quaking aspens, Pando is not exactly a forest, but
it is acutally a single living organism! Pando is what is known as a clonal colony, meaning that
each individual tree is a clone of the original tree.
This unique organism is not only one of
the oldest living trees/“forest”, it is also one of the largest single organisms in the world —
Pando covers an area of 106 acres (43 hectares).
Although Pando has survived for over 80,000
years, it may be dying. In recent years, scientists have noticed that Pando is not regenerating like
it should. Instead, mule deer and cattle are eating Pando’s young saplings before they can grow
bigger.
7. Kakamega Forest
Age: 2+ million years
Location: Kakamega and Kisumu Counties,
Kenya
Area: 91.89 sq mi (238 km2)
Forest Type: Tropical Rainforest
Kakamega Forest is a few million years old and is the only rainforest in Kenya. It is believed
that Kakamega Forest is all that remains of a tropical rainforest that spanned from coast to coast
of the Africa across the continent’s the equatorial line.
As a tropical rainforest, Kakamenga
Forest looks more like the rainforests of Central and West Africa than the other forests in East
Africa.
Like most of the forests on this list, Kakamega Forest is home to plants and animals
that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. In Kakamega Forest, there are over 60 species of
ferns, 150 species of trees and shrubs, and 170 species of flowering plants, including 60 species of
orchids with nine species endemic to this forest.
6. Réunion National
Park
Age: 2 – 2.5 million years
Location: island of Réunion (near
Madagascar; governed by France)
Area: 406.89 sq mi (1,053.84 km2)
Forest
Type: Low-Altitude Tropical Rainforest
Réunion National Park only became an officially protected site on the island of Réunion in
2007. However, the forested lands protected by Réunion National Park are nearly as old as the
island, which emerged over 3 million years ago.
The island sits atop a volcanic hotspot and
there are two volcanoes on the island, one active and the other dormant. Both slopes of the two
volcanoes are heavily forested.
Réunion National Park contains 43 of the 2,000 vertebrae
species on the island and most of the 1,600 recorded native plant species. While most of Réunion
National Park is untamed nature, there is a small cultivated interior where farming livestock and
crops.
5. Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests
Age: 25 – 50 million years
Location: Shores of the Caspian Sea of Iran and part
of Azerbaijan
Area: 21,300 sq mi (55,100 km2)
Forest Type: Temperate Broadleaf
and Mixed Forests
The Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests ecoregion is relatively unknown, but it is one of the most
beautiful ancient forests in the world. In 2019, the Caspian Hyrcanian Forests were granted UNESCO
World Heritage status and the history of the forests dates between 25 to 50 million
years!
Stretching along the coast of the Caspian Sea and the northern slopes of the Alborz
Mountains, the Hyrcanian Forests cover five different Iranian provinces: North Khorasan, Golestan,
Mazandaran, Gilan, and Ardabil.
Golestan National Park is also located with the Hyrcanian
ecoregion. The rest of the Hyrcanian Forests are in southeast Azerbaijan, including the Lankaran
Lowland and the Talysh Mountains.
4. Amazon Rainforest
Age: over 55 million years
Location: Brazil (60%), Peru (13%), and Colombia
(10%); minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French
Guiana
Area: 2.1 million sq mi (5.5 million km2)
Forest Type: Moist Broadleaf
Tropical Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest may not be the oldest forest in the world, but it is the largest and most
biodiverse tropical rainforest in the world. In fact, the Amazon Rainforest is so big that it
represents over half of the Earth’s remaining rainforests.
About 10% of the world’s world’s
known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered flora and fauna reside within the Amazon
Rainforest.
In addition to a number of native plants and animals, a large number of indigenous
people still live in the Amazon Rainforest. Around 9% (2.7 million) of the Amazon’s population is
still made up of indigenous people — 350 different ethnic groups, more than 60 of which still remain
largely isolated.
Although the Amazon Rainforest is important to the world’s climate function,
over the last few decades many sections of the Amazon Rainforest have been destroyed because of
deforestation.
3. Taman Negara
Age: over 130 million years
Location: Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan,
Malaysia
Area: 1,677 sq mi (4,343 km2)
Forest Type: Tropical Rainforest
Like many of the old forests on this list, Taman Negara is a popular tourist destination and one of its most famous attractions is the Taman Negara Canopy Walk – a 510 meter (1,673 feet) long suspension bridge spanning across the forest’s high treetops.
2. Borneo Lowland Rainforest
The Borneo Lowland Rainforest is about 140 million years old and covers much of the island of
Borneo. In the past, the rainforest completely covered the island. The Borneo Lowland Rainforest as
well as the whole island has a rich ecosystem.
Borneo is home to over 15,000 species of
flowering plants, 3,000 species of trees, 221 species of terrestrial animals, and 420 species of
birds that live on the island full time.
Despite being one of the world’s oldest and largest
forests in the world, much of the Borneo Lowland Rainforest is being wiped out due to intense
deforestation. It is estimated that Borneo has lost about 30% of its forest over the past 40
years.
1. Daintree Rainforest
Age: 180 million years
Location: North
east coast of Queensland, Australia
Area: ~460 sq mi (1,200 km2)
Forest
Type: Tropical Rainforest
The Daintree Rainforest is estimated to be about 180 million years old making it the oldest
forest in the world. In addition to being the oldest forest, the Daintree is also one of the largest
continuous areas of rainforest in Australia – the Daintree Rainforest covers about 460 square miles
(1,200 square kilometers).
With such a long and rich history, the Daintree Rainforest is home
to about 30% of Australia’s frog, reptile and marsupial species in Australia, 65% of the country’s
bat and butterfly species as well as 18% of all bird species.
There are also over 1,200 species
of insects living in Daintree Rainforest. Additionally, the Daintree Rainforest is a popular tourist
attraction and receives about 400,000 visitors every year.
