A recent stay on Kangaroo Island gave us the opportunity to
come up close and personal with some Australian wildlife, and for visitors
wanting to see some Australian animals that are not in a zoo-like environment,
it was a great experience.
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| Wallabies in wild |
Wallabies and kangaroos are found in abundance (and plenty of dead ones on
the road too give you an idea of how dangerous it could be driving at night). It is always a little thrilling to see your first kangaroo on a trip - no matter how many times we see them, we do enjoy being the first person to say in the car "kangaroo".
At first we crept up stealthily to take their photos in the
bush, but soon found out that by sitting at our campsite they would come very
close to us and no stealth was
necessary on our part. At one stage we
had so many wallabies around us; I was literally falling over them.
Possums and birdlife are on the Island in huge volumes too. Too many varieties to list here!
And of course, the seals. Plenty of seals to be seen at Seal Bay and
Admirals Arch!
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| Seal and baby at Seal Bay |
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| Seal at Seal Bay |
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| Koala seen in tree near campground |
Koalas are trickier
to see due to always being high in the trees, but I must say that we did not
see anywhere as many as we would have anticipated. Back home, we live 15 minutes away from some scrubland
here in the suburbs, and on a short 1km walk, we can see around 15-20 koalas each
time we go there. Yet we did not
see that many koalas in total for our entire trip to KI.
We met some overseas tourists who were
disappointed not to see them in the wild as well. So don’t raise your expectations TOO high
with these furry critters!
Echidnas, the cutest of all Australian animals in my opinion
– were nowhere to be found. Rangers at
the National Parks said they were everywhere, and despite a lot of bushwalking
by us, zero to be seen. Hiking friends went on a 3 day trek in the
middle of KI, where there were no roads and saw no echidnas. The weather was good, so don't know where they all got to on our break. It was not until we travelled to Parndana Wildlife Park on KI,
that we saw these cute little mammals.
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| Echidna |
I am not sure what I was expecting when I came to this Wildlife Park - possibly a few Australian animals in enclosures - enough to appease the overseas tourists who long to see a kangaroo or koala and possibly have a pat or hold. What I found was a park that made me depressed to see so many beautiful birds from not just Australia, but
elsewhere in the world, to be in cages in such multitudes. And there were cage after cage after cage of these birds.
The wedge tail eagle – a mighty bird – looked manic. It was throwing itself against the cage as we walked past - was it out of boredom, frustration or panic - who knows? But it was unsettling to see one of the great birds of Australia like this.
To see the eagle cooped up in a cage when it should be flying free, and naturally hunting was very sad. Another cage held 3 more eagles, all together. Owls, galahs, cockatoos – prolific on the Island, yet here, caged together, unable to get a good stretch of their wings. Another section housed a Cassowary from tropical Queensland.....Why is that here in dry South Australia, in a very non tropical cage?
To see the eagle cooped up in a cage when it should be flying free, and naturally hunting was very sad. Another cage held 3 more eagles, all together. Owls, galahs, cockatoos – prolific on the Island, yet here, caged together, unable to get a good stretch of their wings. Another section housed a Cassowary from tropical Queensland.....Why is that here in dry South Australia, in a very non tropical cage?
Kangaroos and wallabies (in large numbers) were also penned
in. Why they had so many of these
animals in enclosures did not make sense.
To see a few in a zoo can be understandable. But to see large numbers in a barren field –
more than any visitor needs to see –
just made me very uncomfortable. And
there were a number of enclosures which seemed to have wallaby after wallaby in
it. What is the point in having so
many?
Likewise seeing 2 crocodiles in
these tiny enclosures (surely this is
not allowed by RSPCA?).
My children enjoyed seeing some of these animals as close as
they wanted but even they came away disheartened at the number of birds in
cages.
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| Cape Barren Geese - seen in wild, not at zoo |
KI is a great place to see some of Australia’s unique
animals and birds but my preference will always be to see them in their natural
surroundings, even it means I don’t get to see them up close and personal.
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Do YOU have any experiences with wildlife on KI or Australia that you want to share? Please let us know below.
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