This mainly montane park includes hot springs, rivers with rapids, caves, scenic waterfalls, and the highest caldera lake in Southeast Asia - Lake Gunung Tujuh, while the Great Sumatran fault runs through the national park making the area of great interest to geologists.

A recent study shows that the Kerinci Seblat National Park in central Sumatra has the highest population of tigers on the island, estimated to be 165-190 individuals.

[3][4] The national park is home to other kinds of big, medium, and small cats, clouded leopard/macan dahan (Neofelis nebulosa), marbled cat/kucing batu (Pardofelis marmorata), leopard cat/kucing hutan (Prionailurus bengalensis), and Asian golden cat/kucing emas (Catopuma temminckii).

One camera trap image gave a rare photo of a golden cat mother moving a cub to another location with her mouth.

[8] The national park was declared in 1982, formed from numerous watershed protection forests or hutan lindung and small nature reserves, although its borders were only legally confirmed in the late 1990s.