Daintree Afternoon & Nocturnal

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.

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

Citizen 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

Solar-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.

 

Red-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. 

Developing 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.