Featured Wildlife Journeys

Tammar Wallaby
Australian Sea-lion
Short-beaked Echidna
Kangaroo Island Kangaroo
Glossy Black Cockatoo

Island Life

From: $375 USD

Duration: Full Day

Type: Groups, Private Charter, Shared.

Departs: Daily

Interests: Marine Mammals.

Kangaroo Island is blessed with a diverse range of habitats, with this full day tour showcasing a variety of landscapes, wildlife and the island's community, giving guests a sample of what life is like living on this remarkable island.

From Redgum forests across Cygnet Valley and the Central Plateau, to the coastal heath, dunes and rugged limestone cliffs across the south coast, guests are amazed at the beauty the changing topography. The tour also showcases the way Kangaroo Island has retained space for nature in a productive farming landscape.
Key wildlife species sought are Koalas, Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, Tammar Wallabies and Australian Sea-lions. Other possibilities include Short-beaked Echidnas, Glossy Black Cockatoos, Rosenberg's Goanna (warmer months) and a range of bushbirds, shore-birds, Osprey and seabirds.

About Exceptional Kangaroo Island:

Craig and Janet Wickham and their enthusiastic team have been sharing Kangaroo Island's secrets with guests since 1990 and have won numerous national and international awards for their tours. The family-owned operator specialises in deluxe wildlife tours which create an atmosphere where guests find themselves treated as friends, with tours run as a conversation not a commentary, promising good food, good wine and wildlife in the wild.

_{Price reflects shared adult rate including touring and picnic lunch featuring local produce, Single supplements apply. Black-out dates may apply. Pricing is subject to availability and all prices, itineraries and routings are subject to change without notice. Currency fluctuations may affect prices as quotes based on AUD. Prices are current at time of posting (1/4/2022) and may differ when you book your travel. Please contact us for our current pricing and itinerary details*}

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Itinerary

Tour day-by-day

Island Life

The day begins in the Cygnet Valley, traversing through picturesque redgum forests, narrow-leaved mallee and mixed farmland. This region provides habitat for Koalas, many parrots and bush birds. A delicious home-baked morning tea will be served along the way.

Next up is one of the island's most famed beaches, Stokes Bay, with beautiful white stretches, ideal for spotting shorebirds and seabirds. This region also provides regular wildlife encounters include Tammar Wallabies, Kangaroo Island Kangaroos, with Short-beaked Echidnas, Rosenberg's Goanna (warmer months) and a vast range of woodland birds sighted often.

“Kangaroo Island was an amazing place to grow up, and a lot of things I loved as child – the outdoors, untouched nature, ridiculous freedom – are still the same today. We still have that joyful sense of freedom that a lot of places have lost. We’re able to maintain that.”

Craig Wickham - Owner & Guide

Travel inland through some of the island's most productive farmland, before breaking for lunch on a private property amongst the redgum forest. Lunch is an elegant seafood barbecue featuring King George whiting, halloumi, potatoes and fresh garden salad served with local wine, beer, soft drinks and spring water.

After lunch, guests will continue south to Seal Bay, where coastal mallee transitions through coastal heath into dunes.

This is the opportunity to encounter the third largest colony of Australian Sea-lions on a privately guided tour, where guests will learn about the feeding and breeding behaviour of these photogenic creatures.
Tour details

Shared Group Size: Maximum of 12 guests, with a minimum ratio of one guide per 6 guests.
Pick-up and Drop Off Point: Kingscote Airport, Accommodations in Emu Bay, Kingscote, American River.
Pick-up and Drop-off Time: Approximately 9:00am - 6:00pm.
Languages: Translation services private tours available for French, German, Italian and Spanish (must be a private tour)

Recent Awards

WINNER TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013
LISTED Top 5 Wildlife Guides by Outside Go Magazine 2015
WINNER Outstanding Contribution to the Tourism Export Industry 2015 by the Australian Tourism Export Council
WINNER World's Best Specialist Guide by Wanderlust 2021

How you'll be making a positive impact

We have aligned our sustainability vision with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Citizen Science with Exceptional Kangaroo Island
Exceptional Kangaroo Island contributes observations of flora & fauna via iNaturalist, the world’s leading global social biodiversity network. This platform allows our team to create research-quality citizen science data that enables a more detailed picture of our national biodiversity, and assists bodies such as the CSIRO, ecologists and other decision makers to deliver better outcomes for the environment and our species.
Our guides record observations with iNaturalist Australia by using the iNaturalist app on mobile phones or desktop computers. An observation records an encounter with an individual organism at a particular time and location on Kangaroo Island. We require photos to be attached to observations for them to become research grade and added to the Atlas of Living Australia.

This is where you can greatly assist us in capturing images out in the field! Although we make broader observations that we think are valuable to the local scientific community, we have identified the following species to track when we are exploring Kangaroo Island by vehicle, e-bike or by foot.

Key species we're looking out for include:
- Glossy Black-Cockatoo
- Rosenberg's Goanna
- Hooded Plover
- Short-beaked Echidna
- White-bellied Sea-Eagle
- Bush Stone-curlew
- Osprey
- Southern Emu-wren
- Feral Cat
Protecting Subspecies and Iconics of Kangaroo Island
To reinforce responsible behaviours around iconic species unique to the island, Exceptional Kangaroo Island has developed a Wildlife Code of Conduct and Guest Briefing Card referencing responsible behaviours for iconic species including the Glossy-Black Cockatoo, Hooded Plover, Australian Sea-lion, Kangaroo Island Kangaroo and Short-beaked Echidna.

Kangaroo Island separated from mainland Australia around 10,000 years ago, due to rising sea level after the last glacial period. Due to this long isolation, the island is renowned for the number of subspecies and as a critical breeding, resting or feeding ground for rare species. To reinforce responsible behaviours around these iconic species unique to the island, Exceptional Kangaroo Island has developed a Wildlife Code of Conduct and Guest Briefing Card referencing responsible behaviours for iconic species including the Glossy-Black Cockatoo, Hooded Plover, Australian Sea-lion, Kangaroo Island Kangaroo and Short-beaked Echidna.

This involves sharing a factsheet educating people about sensitive sites and times such as courtship or breeding season that require increased awareness of possible disturbances, such as avoiding known nest hollows of Glossy Black-Cockatoos, beach nesting sites of Hooded Plovers and breeding times for Australian Sea-lions where increased stresses in the colony can bring increased risk to observers. This also reinforces the importance of appropriate behaviour around more elusive animals on the mainland such as the Short-beaked Echidna, who can suffer from “capture myopathy”, which is death or shock due to handling stress.

Creating Feeding Habitat for the Glossy Black Cockatoo

Exceptional Kangaroo Island’s tour base in Cygnet River includes an aerobic waste water management unit that captures and recycles water from the office, commercial kitchen, bathrooms and wash bays. That water is then used to water the surrounding plants and trees - including the primary food source for the endangered Glossy Black-Cockatoo.

Locally-sourced plants have been established outside of the tour base, including the Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata), which is a vital food source for the endangered Glossy Black-Cockatoo. Since planting this species, the cockatoos feed regularly in front of the office.

The planting of sheoaks by the Exceptional Kangaroo Island team, community volunteers and conservation partners such as KI Land for Wildlife and Bio·R has been critical given that 54% of sheoak feeding habitat was lost in the 2019/2020 summer bushfires. Much of this habitat will grow back from seed over 15-20 years, however, the continued commitment is required to ensure this beautiful cockatoo continues to increase in numbers.

Developing Partnerships To Meet Sustainability Goals
Exceptional Kangaroo Island have developed a number of partnerships with key environmental organisations on Kangaroo Island and more broadly in South Australia, including Bio·R, Pelican Lagoon Research Station, Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlife, National Parks & Wildlife South Australia and Birdlife Australia.

Bio·R, Pelican Lagoon Research Station and Kangaroo Island Land for Wildlfie are all supported financially via touring experiences provided by Exceptional Kangaroo Island.