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Featured Wildlife Journeys

  • Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo

  • Ulysses Butterfly

  • Southern Cassowary

  • Saltwater Crocodile

  • Boyd's Forest Dragon

FNQ Nature Tours

Daintree Afternoon & Nocturnal

From: $260 USD

Duration: Full Day

Type: Private Charter, Shared.

Departs: Daily

Interests: Birds, Reptiles & Amphibians.

A visit to the ‘oldest continually growing rainforest in the world’ at night is the feature of this full day tour, encompassing the World Heritage Listed Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation area.

  • Leaving early afternoon, guests will experience the region's incredible array of landscapes including waterfalls, mountain ranges, idyllic streams, deep gorges and dense rainforest.

  • Wildlife enthusiasts will be captivated by the wildlife cruise of the Daintree River, full of opportunities to observe and photograph the region’s apex predator, the Saltwater Crocodile, along with iconic species such as the Boyd’s Forest Dragon, Ulysses butterfly, Spectacled flying-fox, White-lipped tree frog, Azure, Little & Sacred Kingfishers and Wompoo fruit dove.

  • After dining at one of the region's finest restaurants, travellers will experience an interpretative guided nocturnal walk, revealing a different side of the Daintree Rainforest and opportunity to spot wildlife such as the Daintree River Ringtail Possum, Northern Long-nosed Bandicoot and Northern Bettong. 

About FNQ Nature Tours:

After ten years of guiding nature and wildlife safaris in Northern Australia, James Boettcher established FNQ Nature Tours in 2015, with a firm belief that tourism is the key to the protection and conservation of this World Heritage area. The company offers tours designed for nature minded travellers desiring a personal, educational and interactive guided experience, whilst sharing the necessity of protecting the natural wonders and biodiversities of this world famous region.

Price per person. Tour not recommended for children under 14. Please enquire about private touring options with children. 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 (1/4/2024) and may differ when you book your travel. Please contact us for our current pricing and itinerary details**

Itinerary

Tour day-by-day

  • Afternoon and Nocturnal Full Day

    Guests will depart Cairns around midday and head north towards the world famous Daintree Rainforest; an area of ancient tropical rainforest spanning 120,000 hectares, estimated to be 180 million years old. This region was given World Heritage status in 1988 and has the highest diversity of rainforest mammals in Australia.

    The mid-afternoon sun will deliver magical views of the Great Barrier Reef Drive, one of Australia's most scenic coastal highways. Upon arriving into the Daintree National Park, guests will enjoy a delicious afternoon tea, before boarding our Daintree River Wildlife Cruise upon a solar powered vessel, providing abundant opportunities to spot Saltwater Crocodiles and some of the regions 420 bird species without noise or fumes. The river is a haven for kingfishers, including the Azure, Forest, Little & Sacred species, cormorants, herons, ibis, spoonbills, flycatchers, Brahminy Kites, White-bellied Sea Eagles, Wompoo fruit doves, Sunbirds, Spotted-whistling Ducks and Rainbow Bee-eaters.

    Daintree Afternoon - Solar Whisper - David White - FNQ Nature Tours“We look for crocodiles, sure, but we also keep our eyes open for tree snakes, pythons, birds and flying foxes. A highlight is watching the fruit bats. On a hot day, they come and skim the water before heading out. Seeing thousands of flying mammals all around us is an amazing sight.” David White - Wildlife Cruise Guide


    After the amazing cruise, the group will continue to Cape Tribulation. This famous valley resembles a giant amphitheatre, with a semicircle of hills dominated by Mt Sorrow (850m) and Mt Hemmant (1000m). The south-eastern rain, trapped by this valley, results in a tropical climate with high temperatures, humidity and rainfall. This provides a unique vista, being one of the rare locations where rainforest extends right to the shoreline (littoral or beachside rainforest), separated by beautiful white sandy beaches. Led by an expert wildlife guide, travellers explore the natural assets of the coastline.

    Dining in the evening Rainforest is an experience not to miss, with travellers enjoying regional produce at one of the region's finest restaurants. A wildlife tour in Far North Queensland is not complete without a night walk. Much of the local wildlife has adopted a nocturnal lifestyle to avoid the heat of the day in the tropical climate. Perhaps the most unique part of this experience is to observe nocturnal wildlife in the Wet Tropics.

    Your guide will share information about some of the 3,000 plant species, including 65 percent of Australia’s fern species, along with several crepuscular and nocturnal wildlife species, such as the Daintree River Ringtail Possum, Northern Long-nosed Bandicoot and Northern Bettong.

    Guests will be returned to accommodation in Cairns at 10:30pm.

  • Tour details:

    Group Size: Maximum of 7 guests
    Pick-up and Drop Off Point: Cairns/Northern Beaches/Port Douglas
    Pick-up and Drop-off Time: Cairns 7:30am/Northern beaches 08:00am/Port Douglas 8:30am (location dependent), Drop off approximately 5:00pm

    How you'll be making a positive impact

    We have aligned our sustainability vision with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
     
    E-WEB-Goal-15Citizen Science with FNQ Nature Tours

    FNQ Nature Tours 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 in Far North Queensland. 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 on tour! 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 Far North Queensland by vehicle or on foot.

    Key species we're looking out for include:

    • Black-throated Finch
    • Grey Goshawk (white morph)
    • Lesser Sooty Owl
    • Southern Cassowary
    • Red-necked Crake
    • Lumholtz’s Tree-Kangaroo
    • Green-eyed Tree Frog
    • Boyd’s Forest Dragon
    • Great-billed Heron
    E-WEB-Goal-07Solar-powered Daintree River Cruise

    FNQ Nature Tours have a preferred arrangement with Solar Whisper for their Daintree River Cruises, which uses solar panels on the boat’s roof to provide the overwhelming majority of energy used, and an extremely quiet experience with no exhaust, fume, wake.


     

    E-WEB-Goal-04Red-filtered Flashlights for our Nocturnal Beauties

    White torches or spotlights can significantly disturb our marsupials, due to the greater sensitivity of their pupils to light compared with humans. FNQ Nature Tours use, and share with guests the importance of using, red-filtered spotlights.

     

    Although spotlighting is a fantastic means of revealing some of Australia’s most endearing creatures, white torches or spotlights can significantly disturb our marsupials, due to the greater sensitivity of their pupils to light compared with humans. High-powered spotlights effect the ability for pupils to function properly for extended periods of time, leaving them blinded temporarily.

    For this reason, we share with guests the importance of using red-filtered spotlights along with prohibiting flash photography. 

    E-WEB-Goal-17Developing Partnerships To Meet Sustainability Goals

    FNQ Nature Tours have developed a number of partnerships with key environmental organisations in Far North Queensland, including FNQ Wildlife Rescue, Bush Heritage, Forever Wild, Australian Quoll Conservancy, Tolga Bat Hospital, Tree Roo Rescue and Wildlife & Raptor Care Queensland.

    Forever Wild, Australian Quoll Conservancy, Tolga Bat Hospital, Tree Roo Rescue and Wildlife & Raptor Care Queensland are all supporte financially via special touring experienecs provided by FNQ Nature Tours.

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