Australia
Tropical Northeast: Brisbane to Daintree National Park and the Great Barrier Reef
World Safaris offers an exciting tour of Queensland, which allows the adventurous traveler to experience the many natural wonders of the tropical northeast. The first stop is the world famous O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat outside of Brisbane. This is one of the world’s best bird watching destinations, with abundant crimson rosellas, king parrots, regent’s bowerbirds, scrub turkeys, and a wide variety of other avian wonders. Crimson rosella and king parrots are so tame here that they often land on your shoulders and head.
Nearby Lamington National park is home to paradise riflebirds, green catbirds, Albert’s lyrebirds and many others. Many marsupials inhabit the region as well, including red-legged and red-necked pademelons, eastern grey kangaroos and whiptail wallabies.
The Great Barrier reef is the world’s largest structure built by living organisms and home to thousands of varieties of marine fish, invertebrates, sea turtles, and seabirds. Its crystal clear waters are a major attraction for snorkeling and scuba diving. World Safaris’ tour includes a day on Michalmas Cay, where one can spend the day snorkeling among colorful reef dish and corals, giant clams, and viewing numerous seabirds, such as bridled, lesser, black-naped and crested terns, brown boobies and great and least frigatebirds.
Daintree National Park and environs highlight the unique character of the northeastern Australian rainforest, home to a wide variety of birds, including the yellow-breasted sunbird, Macleay’s and graceful honeyeaters, and eastern spinebill. Fascinating amphibians and reptiles also abound here, such as the giant tree frog and Boyd’s forest dragon.
Subtropical North: Darwin, Fogg Dam and Kakadu National Park
Fogg Dam, located just outside of Darwin in the Northern Territory, is well-known for its wetlands, large lagoons and patches of monsoon forest. It is home to many bird species, including brolga cranes, purple swamphens, jabiru storks, and jacana. Kakadu National Park is home to over 280 species of birds, including magpie geese, rainbow bee-eaters, red-collared lorikeets, red-tailed black cockatoos, white ibis, and white-bellied sea eagles. It is also one of the best places to view the mighty salt water crocodile, as large specimens are found here in abundance. Kakadu has a long history of human habitation and is the location of some of Australia’s best known examples of Aboriginal rock art.
The Dry Center: Uluru and the Olgas
The vast, dry center of Australia is probably best known for Ayer’s Rock, a huge, ancient precipice rising directly out of the flat desert, and the Olgas, another fantastic rock formation. The area is also home to a wide variety of fauna and flora, including the blue-tongued skink, thorny devil, sand goanna, and red kangaroo. Walking around Ayers Rock, which is called Uluru by the Aboriginal people, one can see why the formation is sacred to the tribes that inhabited this arid region; each unique feature of the rock is the source of an important origin story.
The Western Coast: Perth, Broome
The city of Perth is the largest on Australia’s west coast. Leaving from Perth, it is possible to visit many areas with abundant wildlife, including the Dryandra Woodlands, Stirling Range, and Cheynes Beach. The unique bird life here includes regent parrot, elegant parrot, western rosella, Australian owlet nightjar, western whip bird and many others. Mammals include the diminutive honey possum, brown bandicoot, quokka, red kangaroo, western grey kangaroo, and common wallaroo.
The Southern Coast: Flinders Chase National Park on Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island, the second largest island off the coast of Australia, is located almost directly south of Adelaide in South Australia. With nearly one-third of the island set aside as parks and reserves, this location is a veritable hotspot of wildlife viewing. Flinders Chase National Park is a 200,000-acre wilderness. The island’s diverse landscapes provide habitats for a wide variety of birds, mammals and reptiles, including kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, platypus, goannas, possums, and bandicoots. At Seal Bay Conservation Area, it is possible to get up close and personal with a colony of rare Australian fur seals. On one end of the island, it is also possible to view Australian sea lions.
Temperate Island: Tasmania
Tasmania, Australia’s island state, lies off the continent’s southeastern coast. Inhabited by giant tree ferns, 100-meter high giant swamp gums, and other incredible plant life, its deep green ancient forests look like they should be home to dinosaurs. However, the current denizens of this landscape include the Tasmanian devil, common wombat, eastern quoll or native cat, and eastern-barred bandicoot. A visit to Desired locations include Mount Field, Cradle Mountain and Freycinet National Parks. Bruny Island provides an opportunity to view some of Australia’s rarest endemic birds, including the forty-spotted pardalote, black-headed and strong-billed honey eaters, green rosella, and yellow wattlebird.
Conservation Challenges
As on mainland Australia, the native species of Tasmania are experiencing many threats to their continued existence. Habitat loss and alteration are always a concern. In addition, the Tasmanian devil population is being threatened by a virulent form of facial cancer that is passed through contact. The Tasmanian devil, made famous by a popular cartoon character, is the largest of the extant carnivorous marsupials. It gained this distinction following the relatively recent extinction of the Tasmanian wolf due to human persecution. The recent introduction of the non-native, placental fox is also a great concern, as it can prey on native species and spread disease.
