Vegetation

The sandy beaches along the Murray, the creeks and the lakes are shaded by fringes of River Red Gums. Black Box woodlands cover slightly higher areas. Native pine and buloke woodlands used to cover the dunes, but the trees were largely removed for timber and are only slowly regenerating. About half the park has mallee vegetation with its typical multi-stemmed eucalypts and sparse ground cover.

Walks lead from the main camping ground at Hattah Lake to nearby lakes past beaches and through Black Box woodlands and stands of Eumong wattles. If there is good winter rainfall there can be spectacular spring wildflower displays.

Animals

Hattah is ideal for bird watching. The lake and dry-country habitats are a haven for over 200 bird species. Apostle-birds and White-winged Choughs frequent campsites, and at dusk Major Mitchell Cockatoos, Regent, Bluebonnet, Mulga and Mallee Ringneck Parrots and Rosellas also remind visitors that Australia has some of the most colourful and raucous birds in the world. Malleefowl, with their great nesting mounds of leaf litter and twigs, breed in the park. Elsewhere much of their habitat has been destroyed. At dusk and dawn, emus and the two species of kangaroo, the Red and Western Grey, can be seen feeding.