The Daintree Rainforest
The Most Extraordinary Place on Earth
A Living Window Into our Ancient Past
Described by Sir David Attenborough as “the most extraordinary place on Earth”, the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area is the world’s oldest surviving tropical rainforest. A biodiverse landscape, this ancient forest is a living breathing window into the past, where you’ll find flora and fauna over 100 million years in the making.
Where Rainforest Meets The Reef
The Daintree is the only place in Australia where the rainforest meets the reef. With white sand, clear blue water and lush rainforest, it is easy to see why this is such a unique holiday destination.
The area north of the Daintree River has been largely untouched by development and retains kilometres of wild primary forest. One of the contributing factors to this may well be its remoteness and the lack of services provided to this region. This has protected the rainforest and allowed visitors to enjoy the natural beauty of a place where many stages of evolution began.
History
The Daintree Blockade
Just past Cape Tribulation in 1983, protestors climbed trees, and buried themselves in the path of bulldozers to cease the development of the Bloomfield Track and help protect the untouched wilderness of the region. Known as the Daintree Blockade the protests attracted national and international media and became a major environmental issue in Australia. It also paved the way for the protection of the tropical rainforests of Far North Queensland.
World Heritage Listing
The Daintree Rainforest part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland was named a World Heritage site in 1988 by the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
This region was classified as a “natural heritage” as it fulfils four criteria:
- It contains superlative natural phenomena of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance;
- It has outstanding examples representing the major stages of the earth’s evolutionary history;
- It has outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial ecosystems and communities of plants; and
- It has the most important and significant habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species
An Ancient Connection: Gondwana land
We have relics from old Gondwana land, which existed over 180 million years ago. Wildlife thought to have Gondwanan origins includes two families of frogs, some geckos and birds, including the Southern Cassowary.
Much of the flora and fauna known throughout the world today can be traced back to this very location.
Indigenous Cultural Values
Our region is also listed on the Australian National Heritage List for its significant Indigenous cultural values. This thriving cultural landscape provides visitors with a lens to Rainforest Aboriginal People’s traditions and their ongoing strong connection to country.
The Eastern KuKu Yalanji are the Traditional Owners of our region. Story places (mountains, rivers, waterfalls, swimming holes, trees) within this landscape are important to Rainforest Aboriginal Peoples. These places have powerful meaning and are respected by the Traditional Owners
Pristine Beaches
The Daintree is the place where the rainforest meets the reef with the two natural World Heritage areas, the Wet Tropics and the Great Barrier Reef coming together. With white sand, clear blue water and lush rainforest, it is easy to see why this is such a unique holiday destination.
Our whole coast along the Daintree National Park is scattered with great beaches, with Cow Bay being our closest beach at just a short 10-minute drive up the road. These beaches are interspersed along the mangroves, an essential ecosystem for the reef and the rainforest. From certain vantage points along our coastal walks you can observe pup sharks swimming among the mangrove playground and maybe even sight a dugong.
Enjoy our National Park but always be mindful and cautious around our wildlife which roam freely in this region.
