About 100m from us on the 2km stretch of sandy coastline, a large sea lion (the males can weigh up to 400kg) barks at a smaller male, which backs down, while the rest of the pinnipeds—at least 30 draped on sand, or rocks further inland—slumber on.
As we stroll along the beach, we keep a respectful distance from the Seal Bay Conservation Park residents on Kangaroo Island. It is home to the third-largest Australian sea lion colony in the world.
Kangaroo Island, 110km southwest of Adelaide and 13km from the nearest coastland, is a refuge for nature and wildlife. More than a third of the island is conservation areas and national parks. Known as the Galápagos of Australia, it is also home to fur seals, fairy penguins (the world's smallest penguins), prehistoric echidnas and the Kangaroo Island dunnarts (a mouse-sized marsupial found only on the island), 50,000 koalas (which are not endemic to the island), and less than 5,000 humans.
RAZED TO THE GROUND
It is a privilege for us to be here. While the sea lions were relatively unscathed during the devastating fires of 2019 to 2020 that engulfed vast stretches of land in five Australian states (including South Australia), the other wildlife residents of Kangaroo Island were not so lucky.
Now known as the Black Summer, the bushfires spread through half the Island and did not discriminate. Bush or farmland, stock or endemic—everything burned. Forty per cent of the island's namesake marsupial, an estimated 40,000 koalas and many more perished. An estimated 60,000 lives (including two humans) were lost.
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Esta historia es de la edición March 2025 de The PEAK Singapore.
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