My Daintree rainforest experience in Queensland, Australia, was about to begin, and the first view of it was enough to make me start imagining encounters with dinosaurs. Dating back to more than 130 million years, the rainforest fired up the imagination, taking you back to a prehistoric ecosystem.
Vijaya Pratap’s visit to Daintree, the planet’s oldest tropical rainforest in Cairns, opened up a portal to an ancient world
Garonaro, our aboriginal guide, arrived. We were a group of five – three Swiss, one Australian and one Indian visitors. With archetypal aboriginal features, long hair, shorts and a bush shirt, he seemed the right person to guide us into the planet’s oldest surviving tropical rainforest.
The fragrance of wild forest flowers mingled with that of fresh earth as we set to explore Daintree. Our journey kicked off with the “smoking ceremony”, where we were made to circumambulate the fire thrice before receiving our walking sticks. Trekking through the stunning rain forest and passing traditional bark shelters and gurgling streams, we listened to Garonaro’s stories on the KuKu Yalanji culture. under the shaded canopy of tall fan palms, working our way through thick vines, we learnt to identify edible plants, medicinal herbs and poisonous berries. And all the while, the huge Cairns bird wing butterflies danced around us and the boyd’s forest dragons watched in silence.
At Rex Creek in Mossman Gorge, Garonaro’s narration of ghost stories gradually led to discussions on animism, the Australian aboriginal worldview that believed non-human entities such as animals, plants and inanimate objects possessed a spiritual essence.
but our journey did not end there. We drove to the Daintree river Cruise Centre, run by Adam,a well-informed naturalist and biologist who has spent most of his life in the company of crocodiles and other large reptiles. We cruised along in Adam’s high-tech boat, and where the man-groves merged with the edge of the rain forest,he showed us the crocodiles, identifying each by its name the 30-year-old Margaret seemed to be his favourite. Adam switched off the motor and, as the boat drifted, the all encompassing silence seemed to be a tangible presence around us. The world was meditating and I, along with the herons and storks around, was part of it.
Under the canopy of fan palms, working our way through thick vines, we learnt to identify edible plants, medicinal herbs and poisonous berries
Next on my list was the Cairns Tropical Zoo, one of the best places to interact with animals. here, visitors get to cuddle a koala – and even a large python or a baby crocodile! I, however, chose to hand-feed a cassowary a colourful bird that can sometimes tower up to 6.6 ft in height.
Susie, the cockatoo keeper at the zoo, walked towards us with two birds on her shoulders – henry, 41, and his mate, Nancy, 43. She told us how cockatoos were monogamous creatures and how Nancy shouted out “henry!” again and again, especially during feed times – and especially when they were in the company of other female cockatoos
We also met Fi-Fi Fluffy Fluffing ton, a human- raised baby kangaroo, now 18 months old, and as Madeline, our zoo guide for the day, took us around the zoo, we saw slumbering koalas wrapped around tree branches. We even had an exciting photo session with a baby koala. Made line placed the baby in my arms – it was quite heavy – and as I gingerly posed, smiling while keeping an eye on it, I couldn’t help but feel its tiny heart beating against me.
In a world far removed from my own, I felt a certain kinship I had not felt possible, and, in the subconscious depths of my thoughts, I held the baby koala closer as I flashed a smile for the photographer.
Good To know
Wild Life : More than 130 million years old, Daintree is home to more than 65 per cent of Australia’s bat and butterfly species, 40 per cent of the country’s birds and more than 30 per cent of its mammals. It is also home to 1,200 species of insects.
Primitive Flora : Twelve out of 19 families of the most primitive flowering plants on the planet are found in the 1,200-km-long Daintree rainforest. by the Daintree river, 140 km long, flourishes 31 species of mangrove.
Vijaya Pratap is a freelance journalist and a documentary filmmaker, based in Hyderabad. She specialises in the study of art, culture and wildlife.
Meet the Author – Vijayapratap
