Last year, every one of our tour visitors planted a tree for a koala. Without a spade, hammer or gloves.
While our tourists were watching a Koala mum & joey canoodling, or swimming with Whale Sharks or photographing a Superb Lyrebird, we planted a tree for them.
Koala mum Kiki (right) with joey Mimi in the You Yangs
Echidna Walkabout is a social enterprise, which means that more than 50% of our profit goes into creating habitat for koalas. We run a range of popular wildlife tours for small groups of international and local travellers – from Melbourne to East Gippsland, the Mallee to the Northern Territory Top End – and all our tours have something in common. All our tours contribute financially to wildlife.
In 2020, our not for profit Koala Clancy Foundation used that funding to plant 9000 trees for koalas. Read about where, how and what that means for koalas here.
Koala Researcher Jordan planting trees
Koala trees, funded by our tourists, were planted beside streams, rivers and waterholes, on the most fertile land possible. Research has shown that koalas are drawn to trees beside water on hot days and during droughts – and due to climate change we are experiencing more of these. Koalas do best in trees growing in fertile soils. In southern Australia most of that is on private farmland.
Koala Clancy Foundation works with farmers to plant trees beside waterways. This model works best because many streams through the agricultural districts are denuded of vegetation, and agricultural land is the most fertile land. Read why koalas need trees planted on farmland here.
This river was once shaded by trees. Koalas would have lived here in the past.
We are replanting the native trees here – the little green boxes are tree guards protecting baby trees.
Planting trees is seasonal, and the planting season is based on local rainfall and soil conditions. Around Melbourne, Australia, we can only plant trees in winter: June, July, August. In Gippsland, eastern Victoria, tree planting occurs in May and again in September – October.
We’ve now been planting koala trees for our tour guests since 2016, and we’re getting better and better at it. 2021 is shaping up to be our best year ever – we already have 40,000 trees to plant! We will need as many helpers as we can get.
Our small (due to COVID) tree planting team, winter 2020
If you want to help koalas with us you can do it in two ways:
- Join any tour any time of year and know you are funding revegetation, or
- Join a tree planting tour. Koala Recovery Experience 1 – 3 days: Melbourne or Koala Recovery Experience 4 days: Gippsland
You can also donate to Koala Clancy Foundation at any time. $10 plants one tree.
Some of our team: Amy & Lachie, Jordan, Bart & Roger after tree planting
Thankyou to all our international and local visitors who supported this initiative by taking a tour in 2019, and all the years since 1993.