Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (Cape York Peninsula Aboriginal land) (CYPAL) has a rich and diverse landscape. In the north grasslands and woodlands, wetlands, coastal estuaries, mangroves and mudflats are prominent. In the south, sandstone hills and escarpments dominate the landscape.

Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL) is renowned for its vast river systems and spectacular wetlands. In the wet season, the Normanby, Morehead and North Kennedy rivers and their tributaries join to flood vast areas, eventually draining north into Princess Charlotte Bay. During the dry season, rivers and creeks shrink, leaving large permanent waterholes, lakes and lagoons that attract an array of animals, particularly waterbirds.

To the north, the park features impenetrable mangroves along the estuaries and coastline of Princess Charlotte Bay. Behind the coast are extensive salt flats and marine plains that give way to inland tracts of eucalypt and paperbark woodlands. Fringing many of the river banks and streams are magnificent, tall paperbark trees and patches of gallery rainforest.

The landscape of Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park (CYPAL) is of significant Aboriginal cultural significance. Sites associated with occupation, ceremonies and stories of ancestral spirits occur throughout the park. The area is also rich in European cultural heritage, associated with early explorers, geologists and surveyors, and tangible links to the establishment of the Palmer Goldfields and early cattle industry.