5Kimberley species to spot in the
On a luxury cruise in remote Western Australia, Chris Reed came across few people, but many and varied types of wildlife . . .
CROCS
There are two types of crocs — saltwater and freshwater. The former are properly called estuarine because they need fresh
— as well as seawater — to stay healthy. Extremely aggressive, estuarine crocs put the rep into reptile. More than 200 million years old, the largest recorded was 6.3 metres long and weighed 1 tonne. They can’t climb but they’re pretty fast over very short distances. Hunting has been banned since the 1970s so numbers continue to grow. Unless you’re super-sure it’s safe, you can’t go swimming anywhere even close to sea level in the Kimberley.
SHARKS
They’re everywhere but not necessarily aggressive. A baby bronze whaler I caught while fishing was, unsurprisingly, hugely unimpressed. It went back, of course. In contrast, a pair of tawny nurse sharks that swam off the back of our ship, True North, while we were moored in the Hunter River didn’t look particularly sharp, even if their teeth probably were.
TURTLES
Thirty-five of the world’s 260 turtle species are found in Australia. In the Kimberley you’re most likely to see the green and loggerhead varieties. The latter is one of the most endangered species in the country. It grows to about 1 metre and an estimated 300-500 females nest on Australian beaches each year. Green turtles can be a bit bigger but have smaller heads.
DUGONG
Looking like a blunted dolphin, the dugong can reach 450kg and is more related to the elephant. Found in warm, shallow water, about 10 per cent — or 10,000 — of the world’s population live in Shark Bay, halfway between Perth and Broome. On our final day we saw a mother and calf in the mangroves. They spent most of the time below the surface, and only partially emerged every 90 seconds or so. They seemed like gentle, doddery things.
CANE TOAD
Reviled and ecologically devastating, cane toads have reached the Kimberley. In a fissure off the King George River there was a pool that, from 10 metres up, looked shallow with sand at the bottom. In fact it was deep and covered with algae. Once the guides had cleared the surface, one of the crew went for a swim. She was tailed by a toad distinctly unperturbed by human contact.
To read more about Chris Reed’s luxury Kimberley journey with True North Adventure Cruises, see our special gloss magazine, also in today’s Herald.