The Devils of Trowunna Wildlife Park

Visiting Tasmania offers some unique experiences, from wild west coast shorelines to the wonderful charm of colonial heritage preserved across an entire state. The tales of bushrangers, convicts, survival and peril… they are all there. One of the things I most enjoy though is the wilderness and wildlife and Tassie offers a sate of these. We enjoyed exploring Fern Glade, and the wonderful wild populations of Platypus, we loved the penguins colonies, so active over the breeding season, but most of all it was the mystique of the Tasmanian devil. Each time we visit the Apple Isle, we make a plan to call into one of the Tasmanian Arks, those wonderful places, where the Tasmanian Devil is being nurtured, cared for and given the tools of survival.

Following is a video clip of our most recent visit to Trowunna Wildlife Park near Launceston and what a delight it was!

The Devils have been plagued with brutal and disfiguring tumours over the most recent decades and it has seen their wild populations vanquished. For the first time however, in our most recent tour we noticed that there is a positive recovery trend across the island. Aside from the most recent developments in treating the disease, wild populations which are strongly monitored by National Parks and Wildlife, seem to be recovering slowly.

The best place to find devils in the wild was on the remote west coast, around Arthur River and the Arthur Pieman Conservation Reserve, where they are reputed to visit the travellers camps regularly, along with the quolls. We also unexpectedly found them in the National Parks along the NE coastline and in the reserves that penguins frequent in the more isolated places, which was an absolute delight.

However, if you want to get up close and personal, visiting one of the many Arks around Tassie is the way to go and for us, this time, it was Trowunna Wildlife park. Trowunna park, near Mole Creek up near Launceston has the largest, and longest running Devil Conservation Breeding Program in Tasmania. They suspect these days that there is a strong genetic link to the devastating tumours the Devils have suffered with for so long, so a breeding program is now essential to their survival.

The park was a delight and while it is now ageing, it offers some really entertaining Wildlife tours for its visitors and I can highly recommend these. They have a variety of Tasmania’s most well known wild creatures in the park, some not so wild and some very wild. I adored the echidna’s, the flight pens where the eagles of prey wait for their wild visitors and of course the devils. It is a photographers delight.

Trowunna is a wildlife rescue and rehab sanctuary and is smack in the path of a wildlife corridor down from the Great Western Tiers. The kangaroos and wallabies are particularly welcoming and range freely throughout the park, happy to join you in a picnic or frolic… your choice.

There is also the added attraction of the Mole Creek Caves further up the valley and a travellers rest area can be found nearby at Chudleigh Showground where for a nominal cost you can safely park up your van and explore. Melita Honey farm, which has a shopfront across the road is also well worth a visit. It will be a few days well spent exploring the area and one you will not forget in a long time.

Travel well

Jan