Leaving a legacy for our wildlife

Having evolved beyond the ‘take only photographs, leave only footprints’ philosophy, eco-tourism in Victoria provides travelers with the opportunity to go beyond having little or no impact on the places they visit, to leaving behind a positive legacy of their stay.

Victoria is home to 30 per cent of Australia’s native species in just three per cent of Australia’s landmass. As such, the state is home to some of the world’s best tourism wildlife conservation experiences, where visitors leave delighted with their encounters with our native animal friends, as well as having truly made a difference to our native environment – and its inhabitants.

Accommodation

Hailed as one of the best ecolodges in the world, the Great Ocean Ecolodge offers an experience where guests can observe wild kangaroos, koalas and birdlife in the company of ecologists. Guests can enjoy close encounters with endangered Tiger Quolls, participate in conservation projects and explore the surrounding pristine bushland, lush rainforests, and secluded beaches of Cape Otway.

Tours

Small group nature tours by Echidna Walkabout allow visitors to witness wildlife in their natural environment, including kangaroos, koalas, platypus, lyrebirds and cockatoos. The impact that this organisation is having on wildlife is significant; a percentage of each tour cost goes towards koala research, and, on each tour, visitors take part in actively researching and monitoring hundreds of wild koalas, by tracking them through their unique nose patterns. And recently, the company launched the Koala Clancy Foundation, a not-for-profit arm to support the wild koalas of the Western Plains of Victoria, particularly around the You Yangs and Brisbane Ranges, west of Melbourne.

Otway Eco Tours takes small guided tours for unforgettable platypus-spotting canoe adventures on  pristine Lake Elizabeth. As an added bonus, glow worms light up the return journey after dusk. And for every visitor, the organisation donates to platypus disease research, as well as actively participating in research into behaviour, breeding and environmental impact.

Middle Island Maremma Walking Tours is a summer experience at Middle Island, off the coast of Warrnambool. Visitors can meet the Maremma Guardian dogs, who were introduced to the island in 2006 to protect the resident Little Penguins from predatory foxes. There has been a steady increase in the penguin colony size since and the story has been made into a feature film, Oddball.

Coming to Victoria’s Wilsons Promontory at the end of 2016, Pennicott Wilderness Journeys has made a name for itself in Tasmania, not only for offering up close encounters with nature and wildlife, but also for its contribution to the environment, in the form of sponsoring and conducting a number of beach and bay clean-up programs. Pennicott has also contributed significantly to island restoration projects and projects designed to support preservation of animals including Shy Albatross, Fleshy-footed Shearwaters, Tasmanian Devils and Sea Eagles.

Experiences

Mount Rothwell Conservation and Research Centre is a 420-hectare property that is the largest predator- free ecosystem in Victoria. The team at Mt Rothwell undertakes research in restoring habitat and completing ecosystems to ensure threatened species populations can be protected from extinction – including that of some of Australia’s most threatened faunal species, such as the Eastern Barred Bandicoot and Eastern Quoll. Public sunset walks are held on the last Saturday of each month.

Aside from the penguins that are known and loved by many, visitors to Phillip Island Nature Parks can make a valuable contribution to the welfare of other species, with their visitor dollars funding research on a range of wildlife species, including coastal birds, Eastern-barred Bandicoots and Seals. The Park’s Seal research team investigates population, diet and management issues, and also monitors many seals get entangled and what they get entangled in. In the past 10 years, the team has seen more than 300 entangled seals and removed debris from more than 150 of them.

Not only can visitors can get up close to more than 200 species of Australian wildlife in an authentic bush environment at Healesville Sanctuary, but its parent organisation, Zoos Victoria, undertakes significant work to prevent extinction among south-eastern Australia’s threatened species, such as the Leadbeater’s Possum and Orange-Bellied Parrot, through captive breeding and reintroduction.