Platypus spotting is one of the most popular and rewarding of all tropical ecotourism activities.

But it's tricky.


Just knowing where to look is not an art that can be learnt from a textbook. And if you are lucky enough to spot one of these bizarre little creatures, the moment it spots you, chances are it will dive, disappear and not resurface for you.

That is, unless you have a wildlife expert from Wildscapes Safaris to escort you

into the platypus habitat. Wildscape Safaris run daytime and nocturnal tours, each of about eight hours' duration.

"The Platypus in the Tropics" tour is the better one for those whose main interest is Australia's elusive, duck-billed enigma and this starts with a 6am pick-up from your accommodation in Cairns.

Our guide and owner of Wildscapes Safaris, Alberto Vale, has operated wildlife tours for years. For more than two years he has devoted every spare moment of his time to his favourite passion - the study of tropical platypuses.

There are several advantages to be derived from taking one of these escorted tours over trying to do it yourself. Firstly, an expert guide knows which streams in the region support platypus and which ones don't. Such a guide also knows which of these streams are accessible and he also understands the habits of the creatures that live in their waters. In Alberto's case, he has a permit to enter otherwise restricted territory, which just happens to be home to at least a dozen of these timid, furry mammals.

The tour I joined recently took our group of four an hour or so into the Atherton Tablelands before setting out cross-country for a couple of kilometres. We halted 50m from a wide, slow-flowing waterway. On one side the banks were steeped in luxuriant, impenetrable rainforest from which the call of whip birds and the brilliantly-coloured Azure kingfisher could be heard. We had been warned not to wear garments of bright colour so it was a sombre-looking group that cautiously approached the stream.

It wasn't until Alberto said, "Fatty has a burrow that extends underneath where we are now standing", that we realised he actually knew the various inhabitants of the waterway by name. We were then instructed to "freeze" the moment a platypus surfaced and to refrain from taking pictures until told.

Moments later a mere ripple on the surface saw Alberto motioning us to become statues.

No one moved, I don't think anyone breathed.

The animal that suddenly appeared, 20m distant, was darker than I had expected.

Twisting and turning, a little like an otter at play, it dived and vanished after about 10 seconds.

"Quick, follow me," our guide beckoned peremptorily as we ran to keep up with him. "He's heading this way. Once he's beneath the water he swims with his eyes, ears and nose closed. But as soon as he surfaces, all his senses are acute."

Alberto stopped abruptly. Lifting his arm like an Indian chief to signal us to stop all movement, he said, "have your cameras ready. He'll come up right beneath us."

And that's precisely where, to the whir and click of cameras, he did.

During the next three hours, focussed on watching, stalking and photographing this unique Australian mammal, we recorded 11 sightings of seven individual platypuses. We had to take Alberto's word on this latter fact as telling one platypus from another was obviously a job for experts only.

Now it was time for morning tea. A small but beautiful riverside beach became the setting for a wood fire and the chance to discuss our sightings.

The two biologists in our group could barely contain their excitement. So many close sightings in such a pristine environment had virtually "blown them away". And as we sipped billy tea and munched on home-made muffins, we learned more about the reticent, web-footed object of our search.

"There have been some quite intensive studies completed on platypus in regions south of here," Alberto Vale told us. "But not in the tropics. While it appears to be much the same creature, its habitats in North Queensland are very different to those elsewhere and possibly so too are its habits."

Surprisingly, I learned, no one has ever witnessed a platypus laying eggs and that the species lives as far north as Cooktown and in streams in the very south of Tasmania.

Having experienced little change in its make-up for 50,000 years, the platypus is very much a living fossil.

As well as operating Wildscapes Safaris, Alberto Vale spends a considerable amount of time working on a six year project which studies the behavioural patterns of platypus in the wild. This, he says, is performed in conjunction with Dr Tom Grant of the University of New South Wales who advises Alberto on research procedures while Alberto completes most of the in-field work.

Before clambering aboard the 4WD, our group was shown a life-size model of a platypus and given detailed explanations of its bodily structure and functions.

We drove away leaving nothing but footprints in the sand and mud. This is one of the many strict policies of this operator whose two tours have won National Ecotourism Advanced Accreditation classification.

Earlier today, on the highway from Cairns, we had stopped at a termite mound.

Measuring roughly 1.5m high and wide, this natural monument is home and work place to millions of tiny ants, so small they can be barely seen with the naked eye. Chipping a small piece off the mound, Alberto provoked a flurry of activity. We felt the rock hard piece's inner edges. They were sticky like glue.

"Many people drive past termite mounds every day without realising what a fascinating story lies inside," he said. "I will now replace the broken piece and in less than an hour the ants will have sealed it all together with that sugary glue you felt that they manufacture from chewing grass."

Our only other detour before platypus spotting was a short drive off-road to visit a colony of Spectacled Flying Foxes which are endemic to North Queensland rainforests.

Nearby Lake Boreen is a peaceful retreat fringed by lush rainforest and with an unusual resident.

Henry, a magnificent old cassowary, struts regally around the National Park occasionally posing for photographs. There's an interesting boardwalk here. Starting close to the lake, it enters the rainforest where two giant, 1,000 year old bull kauri trees, host to a variety of ferns and orchids, which germinate high in the canopy, reach 50m skyward. This area was once home to thousands of these towering wonders and no one knows how these two stately giants missed the logger's axe.

Wildscapes Safairs' other expedition, the Rainforest at Night, takes a maximum of six passengers and has a different focus.

An hour or so is spent on platypus spotting prior to taking a hearty country meal in the pioneer setting of a Tablelands' restaurant. The Atherton Tablelands is a high plateau of the Great Dividing Range. Its rich, red volcanic soil supports an assortment of crops as well as wet sclerophyll forests that are home to many endemic and endangered species of plants and animals. One species of mega flora visited on this tour, at Yungaburra, is a Curtain Fig Tree, believed to be at least 500 years old. More than 50m high, this giant measures 39m around its base.

The Rainforest at Night tour penetrates the darkness of the Mt Baldy rainforests in search of pademelons, quolls, several varieties of possums and owls and, the most intriguing of all creatures that exist here, the Lumholtz tree kangaroo.

Unlike their ground-dwelling cousins, this species has hindlegs that can move independently. Why they returned to a chiefly arboreal existence (kangaroos evolved from tree-dwelling ancestors) no one knows but these thick furred marsupials of the Wet Tropics are always a favourite with night tour members.

Another popular rain forest inhabitant is the curious Northern leaf tail gecko. Difficult to locate because of its ability to take on the appearance of a leaf or branch, this remarkably shaped reptile can measure up to 25cm. But for any rainforest safari group, the most fascinating talent of this creature is the manner in which it washes its eyes with its tongue.

The wilderness area covered on this tour is about six kilometres. Most spotlighting is done from the vehicle.

"Everyone has their own spotlight and we use only low powered lights with red filters so as not to frighten or harm the animals," Alberto said.

And for those who miss a particular sighting, Alberto catches most of the action on film for passengers to view on his Wildcam video on the 4WD's return trip home.