Overview

This designated wilderness site encompasses an area of circa 11,000 hectares, comprising lands owned by Coillte and the National parks and wildlife service (NPWS). The area was once described by Robert Lloyd Praeger as the “loneliest place in Ireland”. He qualified his comment by referring to it “not as depressing but inspiring. You are thrown at the same time back upon yourself and forward against the mystery and majesty of nature” The landscape can inspire and uplift the human spirit. Wild Nephin offers a sanctuary for plants and animals and will provide valuable biodiversity reserves in an otherwise increasingly managed landscape. There is a wide diversity of habitats within the wildness area. Habitats include upland grassland, wet and dry heath and numerous lakes and rivers and conifer plantation forestry. With a rainfall of circa 2000mm per year the non-forested lands are predominantly active blanket bog which covers much of the wilderness area.

Maps for the Wild Nephin are available from East-West Mapping: Wild Nephi