Echidna Walkabout Nature Tours
Echidna Walkabout Nature Tours was founded by Roger Smith and Janine Duffy in 1993, with the vision to bring people and wildlife together for mutual benefit.
The team believes that observing and connecting with wildlife is a key element in enriching the lives for people of all backgrounds; whether this interaction is for pleasure, new experiences and learning, for connection to the land or the basic needs for humans to breathe clean air and drink clean water via healthy ecosystems.
Increasingly, wildlife needs people too, as climate change and environmental pressures place our precious environments at risk for future generations. This has been central to the development of the company’s touring philosophy. When guests travel with Echidna Walkabout Nature Tours, part of the trip involves travellers contributing to a project that actively helps wildlife; from removing ghost net from a remote beach, to pulling out an invasive weed to save the local Koala population.
Echidna Walkabout Nature Tours is internationally-recognised in wildlife in the wild conservation travel, and winner of the 2014 World Responsible Travel Award. Our extensive policies with respect to conservation and social enterprise are available for your reference. As a social enterprise tour company, we invest more than 50% of our profit into our mission. Most of that investment is through our Koala Research Project, and through in-kind and direct financial support to the Koala Clancy Foundation.
We strongly support the concept of privately-owned land to increase the habitat available to wildlife – this is essential if wildlife is to survive the upcoming challenges of climate change. Through Koala Clancy Foundation we plant koala food trees in river valleys and along creeks on private farmland near Melbourne – returning the indigenous flora to that denuded environment.
Speciality areas
- Birds
- Fish & Marine Invertebrates
- Land Mammals & Marsupials
- Marine Mammals
- Reptiles & Amphibians
Quick facts
- The Bremer Canyon is one of the most amazing marine environments on earth, believed to be home to the largest concentration of Killer Whales in the Southern Hemisphere.
- In addition to Killer Whale interactions, the region is home to multiple species of dolphin, Long-Finned Pilot Whales, Sperm Whales, Oceanic Blue and Whaler Sharks, Australian Sea Lions, New Zealand Fur Seals and even rare Beaked Whales.
About the region
Bremer Bay
Bremer Bay is located on the south coast of Western Australia, between Albany and Esperence. This idyllic coastal town houses a small population surrounded by scenic sweeping bays, rugged cliffs and sparkling turquoise waters. But in recent times, it has risen in prominence as the gateway to one of the ocean’s great wonders; the Bremer Canyon.
Located 60 kilometres offshore, this submarine canyon located at the edge of the Australian continental shelf supports one of the most astonishing aggregations of marine life anywhere on the planet. As cold water from extreme depths moves towards the base of the canyon, it brings nutrients used by phytoplankton and microscopic plants that provide a rich source of food for larger marine species.
From January to April, the region provides the amazing opportunity to reliably encounter Killer Whales (Orca), the ocean’s undisputed apex predator and the largest toothed predator to have ever lived, the Sperm Whale. Other species that are also drawn to the area include Long-finned Pilot Whales, rare Beaked Whales and the largest animal to ever have lived, the Blue Whale. There are also abundant opportunities to see large pods of Bottlenose, Striped, and Common Dolphins, and encounter shark species that include Great Whites, Whaler Sharks, and the beautiful Oceanic Blue, a species never seen from shore.
It’s also a pelagic birdwatchers dream, with an astonishing array of seabirds including albatross, shearwater and petrel species, often feeding on scraps of giant squid floating on the surface.
About the region
Cairns
Cairns and Tropical North Queensland
Cairns is the gateway to the amazing Far North Queensland region, a wildlife enthusiast’s paradise and the only place in the world where two World Heritage Listed areas exist side by side (Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef). The Wet Tropics World Heritage Area is extremely rich in biodiversity, with 2800 plant species and 663 vertebrate animal species, including 65 percent of Australia’s fern species, 30 percent of Australia’s orchid species and 35 per cent of Australia’s mammals.
The region provides access to the oldest tropical rainforest in the world, with landscapes that provide living examples of some of the earliest flowering plants and a fascinating insight into the diversity, evolution and survival of many rainforest species.
This is the area where the world’s songbirds emerged, currently home to forty percent of Australia’s bird species including bowerbirds, kingfishers, riflebirds, fruit doves and the endangered Southern Cassowary. Boasting the highest diversity of rainforest mammals in Australia, the Bennett's and Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo, Spectacled Flying-fox, Daintree River Ringtail Possum, Northern Long-nosed Bandicoot are popular sightings.
The Daintree and Tablelands boasts spectacular landscapes to observe reptiles, amphibians, monotremes and butterflies, including the Platypus, Saltwater Crocodile, Boyd’s Forest Dragon, White-lipped Tree Frog, Green-eyed Tree Frog, Snapping Turtle, Leaf-tailed Gecko and electric blue Ulysses butterfly.
“Frequently people say ‘what is your favourite place in the world?’ and I start off saying home,’’ he said. “But if I’m not home, I usually say, on many occasions, actually North Queensland. “It’s got mountains, it’s got tropical rainforest, it’s got the Barrier Reef. It’s got wonderful creatures that occur nowhere else. It’s a great place.”
David Attenborough
Quick facts
- Features unbroken chain of precious forests stretching from the Snowy River alpine area to the sea
- Giant Alpine Ash forests and woodlands ideal for spotting shy forest dwellers and marsupials including gliders
- Prime region for seeing Superb Lyrebirds, parrots, cockatoos and migrant cuckoos in warmer months
- Ramsar protected Gippsland Lakes District sanctuary for abundant water birds
About the region
East Gippsland
East Gippsland is located in the eastern corner of the state of Victoria where the warm South Pacific Ocean meets the cold Southern Ocean. Arguably, no other Australian region boasts such a diversity of ecosystems in a concentrated area, from magnificent lush rainforests, coastal heathlands, giant eucalypt groves, pristine rivers and estuaries, through to white sandy beaches.
East Gippsland is one of the few regions in the world that has a large unbroken chain of forest stretching from the alps to the sea. These mighty forests are critical sanctuaries for many bird species such as Superb Lyrebirds, Yellow-bellied and Greater Gliders, King Parrots, Eastern Whipbird, Powerful Owls, Satin Bowerbirds, robins and many honeyeater species.
This region is amazingly rich in fauna with 50 native mammals; two Monotremes (Platypus, Echidna), 6 Dasyurids (Dunnarts, Quolls), 2 Peramelids (Bandicoots), 17 Diprotodonts (Kangaroos, Wallabies, Possums, Gliders, Koala, Wombat) and 23 native placentals (Dingo, Seals, Bats, Flying-foxes); 19 amphibians and 36 species of reptile including the 2.5m Lace Monitor and the 3m Diamond Python.
About the region
Mungo National Park
Mungo National Park is located in south-western New South Wales and is located approximately 875 kilometres (544 miles) west of Sydney and 580 kilometres (360 miles) northwest of Melbourne. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Willandra Lakes Region, an area of 2,400 square kilometres (930 sq mi) that incorporates seventeen dry lakes.
The Mungo landscape is composed of ancient dry lake basins (playas), dunefields, sand plains and lunettes. The lakebed soils consist of grey and red heavy clays, whilst the sandplains consist of sandy loam red, brown and pale soils. But it is the lunettes that are the most iconic landscapes in the region, composed of four major layers of sediment, representing different geological eras. Wind and water have carved lunettes into spectacular formations, with the dramatic Walls of China one of the best examples.
Australian Aboriginal People have lived and hunted beside Lake Mungo for 50,000 years and is the traditional meeting place of the Muthi Muthi, Nyiampaar and Barkinji Aboriginal Nations. Significant archaeological remains have been discovered in the region, with the Mungo Man, the oldest human remains discovered in Australia, and Mungo Lady, the oldest known human to have been ritually cremated.
Mungo National Park offers a unique insight into climate change, its effect on human habitation and the environment over many thousands of years. Mungo National Park is also home to many arid land animals and birds including kangaroos, rare parrots and cockatoos, birds of prey, reptiles and many others. Skeletal remains of extinct marsupials, the forebears of Australia’s unique suite of wildlife, are still found around Lake Mungo. Today the land boasts 2 of Australia’s 5 species of great kangaroos, many rare and beautiful parrots, birds of prey, reptiles and a rich arid land flora.
Quick facts
- Ningaloo is the world’s largest fringing coral reef
- Whale Sharks migrate to the area with swims occurring from March to August
- Over thirty thousand Humpbacks Whales migrate to the area with swimming with Humpbacks occurring from August to late October
- Key nesting area for three species of turtle and breeding region for Manta Rays, Dugongs and Dolphins
- More than 300 species of corals and over 500 different species of fish can be observed
About the region
Ningaloo & Exmouth
Fringing the North West Cape coastline, Ningaloo Reef is one of the world’s largest and most magnificent fringing coral reefs. This intricate reef system stretches over 260 km and at some points, is only metres from beautiful secluded sandy beaches.
The Reef is home to a myriad of marine life, including one of the rarest, and largest fish ever found, the Whale Shark. Up to 18 metres in length, Ningaloo is the only place in the world where visitors can swim with Whale Sharks from March to August everyday, when the plankton rich waters draw them close to the reef in search of food.
They are only one of the many seasonal visitors to the Ningaloo Reef. Humpback Whales are also in abundance, with over thirty thousand whales migrating to the area. Calving & resting whales take advantage of sheltered warm waters in their masses with Humpback swims occurring from August to late October.
Manta Rays cruise along the reef, April to November, feeding alongside Whale Sharks & whales, your opportunity to see the big three. In late Autumn, turtles are seen in huge numbers, with the Green, Loggerhead and Hawksbill Turtles beginning their mating season and climbing enmass the beaches, nesting everywhere along our coastline. Hot January nights will see Turtle hatchlings bustlling out of the sand racing down to the ocean every evening.
With the bio-diversity of 300 species of corals, an assortment of uniquely coloured Nudibranchs and over 500 different species of fish makes Exmouth an impressive destination all year round.
Our experiences guides tell it like it is
