Life and Death in the Daintree Rainforest

Sat, Nov 28, 2009

Last night we went for a night time nature walk – a 2 hour tramp through the jungle shining our flashlights up, down, in and out, trying to spot wildlife. Our guide was a man named Mick who picked us up at the hotel and kept a steady stream of chatter going the entire time. He was really interesting and had some great stories. As we walked, he explained the different types of flora and fauna and how everything relies on everything else. Unfortunately, the moon was pretty full, so we didn’t see a lot of critters; although, we did see a couple of the dragons (a kind of lizard) that sleep in the trees at night and that was pretty cool. I was hoping to see a Cassowary, but no dice. I did find a pile of Cassowary poo though, which was a pretty good deal. It was interesting. It looked like someone had piled a bunch of seeds up in an area about the size of a dinner plate. There were pandanus tree seeds and Cassowary plum seeds and several others. Mick told us that the Cassowary is absolutely vital to the existence of 70 different species of trees and plants in the rainforest because their seeds have to pass through the digestive system of the Cassowary before they will germinate. So if the Cassowary becomes extinct, so do all those plants. They are working hard to protect them and there are signs all over the place warning you not to feed them if you see them, and to drive carefully so you don’t run them over.

Mick pointed out many of the different trees and plants, many of the endemic to that particular rain forest. There were huge mahogany trees and a couple of gigantic strangler figs that had formed themselves around mahoganies. Strangler Figs germinate high up in the canopy of trees and send their roots down to the ground, wrapping themselves around the host tree. Eventually they smother the host tree to the point that it dies. Gradually the original tree rots away, then the fig continues to fill in until it becomes a solid tree. The ones we saw were probably close to 1000 years old as was a tree fern we saw. The tree fern was only about 10 feet high, but Mick told us it only grows 2 cm every 10 years, so for it to get that big meant it was pretty ancient.

After our walk, as he drove us back to our hotel, he was telling us about the unusual number of croc attacks they’ve had in the area this year – four, and most of them in January. The most chilling was about the family that runs the ferry crossing just south of there. They had two young sons – one 11 and one 5. Apparently there had been a lot of rain and there was flooding all over the place. The family lives right on the river and perhaps had become too casual in their respect for the dangers. The kids were playing in the flood water on their boogie boards when suddenly a big croc reared up out of the water and swallowed the 5 year old whole. Then he came after the 11 year old who was screaming and managed to climb a tree. That brought the parents to the river but by that point the croc was gone and their son with it. A few days later the croc was trapped, flown to Sydney where it was anesthetized and the body removed, the croc was sewn back up and given to some sort of croc refuge or zoo. Terribly sad. Mick said he never lets his kids play down by the river unless he’s with them and has thoroughly checked things out. Even then, he lets the dog jump in to swim first. “This might sound kinda bad, but old Jazzie goes in first. You can always get another dog, right?”

Just as I was thinking I would never want to live near crocodile infested waters, he pointed out that, although the crocs are dangerous, if you have the proper respect for them, you can coexist pretty safely. “At least we don’t have murderers and rapists in the rainforest.” Good point. There is danger everywhere. I guess we all just adapt to the dangers we’re used to.