Kangaroos and wallabies can be spotted bounding through Flinders Chase National Park, feasting on new shoots and fresh vegetation.īirdlife has returned to Flinders Chase National Park. Birdsong is deafening, kangaroos and koalas are content, flora is flourishing, and the community is closer than ever. Today a carpet of green landscape leaves little doubt that the island and hills are bouncing back. South Australia Tourism Commission paints a picture that makes you want to take a deep breath of relief:Ĭourtesy of South Australia Tourism Commission Thankfully, time heals some wounds, and Kangaroo Island’s rebirth is a bright spot in a year already plagued by an ongoing pandemic. Many of these animals were among the estimated 3 billion lost or displaced due to the country-wide wildfires. In the southwest, 96 percent of Flinders Chase National Park-one of Australia’s oldest national parks-was charred, rendering the home of endangered dunnarts and the glossy black cockatoo, as well as koalas, kangaroos, and platypuses, uninhabitable. By the end of January 2020, almost half of the island was reduced to sandy hills and blackened branches. Meanwhile, a local Oz story made international headlines: Kangaroo Island in South Australia, likened to Noah’s Ark and Australia’s Galápagos for serving as a refuge for some of the country’s most endangered creatures, was burning beyond the point of recognition. Per the Guardian, that’s more than the size of England. About 42 million acres (17 million hectares) of rural Australia had gone up in flames, from hardest-hit New South Wales, where smoke made its way to coastal Sydney, down to Tasmania and across to Western Australia. Wildfires come as frequently to the Australian bush as they do to California’s hills, but this year was different. In early January 2020, a year ago and a world away, Australia was ablaze.
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