How Australia's Kangaroo Island Is Recovering With Conservation-Minded Hospitality

28.03.2024 - 11:31 / cntraveler.com

I'd never seen the yakka trees on previous trips to Kangaroo Island. But now, clusters of them have shimmied up toward the sky like upside-down palms. Their spearlike trunks, designed by nature to germinate with fire, sprouted recently, a result of the catastrophic 2020 “black summer” bushfires, which engulfed Australia. Fast-moving flames reduced half the island to embers, claiming the lives of thousands of its animals, including more than 60,000 koalas. But the hardy native trees are a symbol of the regenerative power of the bush.

“It's incredible how resilient the Australian landscape is,” says Hayley Baillie, co-owner of Southern Ocean Lodge, which is part of the Luxury Lodges of Australia portfolio and was also burned down. “The fires were devastating, but there are some positives to come out of it.”

Today, the story of death and destruction has been supplanted by one of resilience and renewal. Kangaroo Island, a pendant of primordial land with limestone cliffs and bone-colored beaches in the Southern Ocean off the coast of South Australia, has bounced back. Its animals are multiplying, and nature is flourishing again. The isolation of the island, more than a third of which is blanketed in nature reserves, has led to unique subspecies of fauna, including kangaroos, possum-like dunnarts, glossy black cockatoos, and the only disease-free colonies of koalas and Ligurian bees. Southern Ocean Lodge has been resurrected and rebuilt as a near replica of its former self. Like the freshly sprouted yakka trees that now surround the resort, it symbolizes the island's rebound. It was reborn with new hybrid solar and battery power, as well as the ability to capture and store up to 1.5 million gallons of rain that are converted into potable water.

Southern Ocean Lodge’s luxury Ocean Pavilion sits atop the island’s rugged cliffs.

Sun loungers at SOL, which has been rebuilt as a near replica of its former self.

Paradoxically, the fire may have boosted Kangaroo Island's flora and chances of a sustainable future. Carrying a wallaby rescue when I meet him, Craig Wickham, a soft-spoken former park ranger and founder of tour company Exceptional Kangaroo Island, tells me that the 2020 fires moved faster and farther than any had previously. “A lot of animals were displaced, but at the same time there was an extraordinary seed drop. So we now have a much denser bush.” Significant funding has been funneled into various bushfire recovery projects, including in 2021 from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF-Australia) to help get the island certified as an ECO Destination through Ecotourism Australia, which includes auditing and ensuring that businesses comply with regulations.

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