Tablelands Wildlife

Enjoy a presentation of Australia's most awesome aerial predators that's both educational and fun. Get up close to eagles, falcons, owls and other native birds of prey. Photo opportunities are available for valiant people (at extra cost).

Hold a baby crocodile or a small python and enjoy the intimacy with the Australian wildlife.

You can also learn the art of handling a peregrine falcon, prepare a flight session and fly the falcon yourself!

The Atherton Tableland has a large population of these strange and unique Australian animals. Described as a living fossil, the furry, warm-blooded, egg-laying mammal has a broad flat tail, webbed feet, and a snout resembling a duckbill. Aboriginal legend tells the tale of a young female duck mating with a lonely and persuasive water-rat. The resulting offspring had their mother's bill and webbed feet and their father's four legs and handsome brown fur.

The best times to see the platypus is at dawn and dusk, from the viewing platform at Petersen Creek, beside the road leading inland from Yungaburra. Just remember that platypus are extremely shy and you need to be totally silent so as not to scare them away.

Whether you love wildlife, appreciate spectacular scenery or travel with children, you should visit Granite Gorge. The nature park can be enjoyed the whole day, but is best experienced in the afternoon when up to 50 rock wallabies converge in a small area, hungrily waiting to be fed.

Though wild, the wallabies have grown up with human contact, and as a result are tame, friendly and happy to be touched and photographed while being handfed.

Follow a walking track over acres of massive granite boulders. Enjoy panoramic views over the countryside and take a dip in natural swimming holes. In the wet season, the pace of the stream picks up, so be careful around wet boulders and other slippery surfaces.

If you are a bird lover, then Hasties Swamp is for you! During the dry season, this small but significant wetland becomes a refuge for waterbirds. Observe green pygmy-geese, Pacific black ducks, hardheads, egrets and ibis from a two-storey bird hide. Signs will help you to identify the various species.

The Wildlife Conservancy of Tropical Queensland manages the 5,000 acre Mareeba Wetlands Reserve on the northern edge of the Atherton Tablelands, just an hour from Cairns and Port Douglas. All income from sustainable tourism is reinvested into ongoing Reserve management, research, education and conservation programmes.

See at first hand magnificent native birds such as brolgas, sarus cranes, red-tailed black cockatoos and Australia's only stork, the striking jabiru. The Reserve is also a safe haven for a vast array of animals such as grey kangaroos, wallaroos, snakes, frogs, fish, dingoes and freshwater crocodiles. They are easily accessed, viewed and photographed.

Hire a canoe, jump on an electric boat tour or simply explore the Reserve on one of the walking tracks. The Reserve also offers a Twilight Safari through the Reserve ending, with wine and cheese on the Visitor Centre verandah.