| On safari-- wildlife and nature photos |
 |  |  | 
|
| Viewing the mainland | Admiral's Arch | Through Admiral's Arch | Near Cape Forbin |
Kangaroo Island, just off the South Australian
mainland, is Australia's third largest island, and one of its most fascinating. Its magnificent coastal
scenery is matched by its wildlife, protected by thoughtful conservation methods.It's important that about one-third of
the island's original vegetation remains intact
Perhaps the island's
most-visited wildlife are the Australian sealion colony at Seal Bay. There are also colonies of New Zealand fur seals, notably at Cape du Couedic on the island's south-west tip. Little, or Fairy, penguins live around the coast, even on township foreshores
British explorer Matthew Flinders in 1802 named the island after
the kangaroos he and his crew saw. The K.I. kangaroo is a darker, stockier subspecies of the
western grey kangaroo on the mainland. Very common is the Tammar wallaby, now all but extinct on the mainland. Another feature is the echidna, or spiny ant-eater, which tries to hide by
digging itself into the ground. Also common, too common many say,
is the introduced koala. It has done so well in the island's pristine environment that it is threatening to eat itself out of house and home
One of the island's spectacular birds is the crimson rosella, whose range is mostly eastern Australia but which has an isolated population on K.I.
There are plenty of Australia's best-known gull, the silver gull, along with its much larger but less numerous relative, the Pacific gull
The Cape Willoughby lighthouse marks the eastern end of Kangaroo Island. Nearby is bouldered Windmill Bay. Towards the other end, close to Cape du Couedic, are Remarkable Rocks,
whose wonderful shapes top a huge granite dome overlooking the Southern (Indian) Ocean
Not far from Kangaroo Island is Granite Island, linked by causeway to the mainland. Little penguins are its best-known wildlife, and the surrounding waters are frequented by sealions and whales
Click here for the birdlife and scenery of the River Murray, or here for a new page on Papua New Guinea before independence
Click on
the Maplink to locate Kangaroo Island
These photographs were taken with EOS5 & 1n, Canon 100-400 IS and Sigma 17-35/2.8-4 lenses, with fill flash in some cases. Film used was Fuji Sensia 100 and Provia 100F
Photo sales information
 |
