The West Coast National Park houses about 60 000 water birds and waders and thousands of visitors are attracted annually to this internationally renowned wetland. A large part of the bird population migrates each summer from the Arctic circle to this region, to turn the West Coast National Park into a bird watcher's paradise. The Langebaan Lagoon is 17 km in length and 4,5 km wide. The oldest anatomically modern fossilized human footprints were discovered in the West Coast National Park as well as the remains of an extinct bear, saber-toothed cat, a short-necked giraffe and a three-toed horse.

The lagoon and the islands of Malgas, Marcus, Jutten and Schaapen were originally proclaimed as Langebaan National Park in 1985. The park's area was increased with the inclusion of the Postberg Nature Reserve and other land areas to 24 700 ha. The park is nowadays a continuous strip of coastline, tidal lagoon and sandveld (sand dune area) from Langebaan in the north to Yzerfontein in the south, located 130 km north of Cape Town in the Western Cape.