Welcome to Kangaroo Island - a short flight or ferry trip off of South Australia’s coastline.
As the creative name suggests, the Island overflows with Kangaroos as well as many other native animals which makes for an extremely rich and rewarding wilderness exploration. Throughout my travels, I like to hear the perception of Australia from foreigners: lot’s of nature, placid wildlife, rugged terrain and Kangaroo Island would meet all of these expectations.
I had not been to the Island for over 20 years - since Primary School as it’s a common camping ground. The bushfires at the beginning of the year were catastrophic and destroyed almost half of the island. I wanted to go back to support the local businesses and observe the recovery efforts so I organised a weekend away.
It truly is a remarkable place and whilst you’re cruising around, you’re spotting wildlife - birds, mammals and reptiles (including snakes) regularly. Most of the trees have been burned out and the major National Park, Flinder’s Chase, is completely destroyed. As the growth renews, all of the yakka grass trees have simultaneously shot their flower spikes 3-4m into the air - so eery and martian. Despite the destruction, a handful of Australian plants/trees can only reproduce with the onset of fire - a cycle.
Kangaroo Island also has a breeding ground for native Sea Lions - an endangered species with volumes lower than that of white rhinos. Historically, the Island was used by whalers and sealers who practically devastated the colonies. To warm up, the Sea Lions somehow manage to manoeuvre their bulking masses up the sand dunes and have created a series of tunnels through the undergrowth to rest before their next venture out to sea.
With a high Iron content in the rock and soil, many parts of the island rust with beautiful shades of orange and brown. The following photo is taken at a secluded beach called ‘Stokes Bay’ where you literally have to navigate through a naturally occurring tunnel between to rocks to stumble across it. If we ever found water flowing on the surface of Mars, I’m sure it would look something similar.
The animals have no natural enemies on the island so it’s easy to approach them - they’re used to humans. Some times it works to their detriment because they wander onto the road…
The only cost is to travel to the island which is by ferry or plane, there are a number of attractions which also cost money but it goes to conservation efforts
in general, kangaroos don’t have a native predator so it is possible to get quite close to them. Male kangaroos can be aggressive when it’s mating season so it’s best to avoid them then
I visited as a kid @Velvel but have not been back in recent years. I’m glad the island wasn’t fully destroyed under our new normal bushfire season @davo_dw and its cool of you to visit in support of the locals. I enjoyed reading your post.
! It is so nice to see such combination of beautiful nature and nice wild life.