Orcas, Numbats & Birds of the South West - an exclusive Australian Geographic Wildlife Adventure

After a pick up from your Perth CBD Hotel, we spend a leisurely morning down along the Western Australian coastline, stopping at Lake Clifton to see the Thrombolites, but also look for Red-necked stints, Red-capped plovers, Australasian grebes and Grey plovers. After lunch at a local cafe, we venture across the Darling Scarp, Wagyl to the local Indigenous Noongar people, to Manjimup, where we search through the giant Karri trees, the second tallest flowering plant in the world, for White-browed babblers, Western yellow robins, Red-winged Fairy wrens and, if we are very lucky, a Western brush-wallaby. Our final drive takes us to Pemberton where we will stay the night. Accommodations: 1 night at Best Western, Pemberton Meals: lunch and dinner included

Pemberton is rich in history, both Indigenous and European. It's hard to believe that this town was once a bustling timber town - the forests are thriving with tall trees, dense foliage and plenty of wildlife. There are multiple areas for us to explore, which the guide will select depending on recent wildlife sightings from eBird and iNaturalist. Big Brook Dam, Beedelup Falls, the Pemberton “Swimming Pool”, the Gloucester Tree, the Cascades and the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree are all options for us to use. Just after sunrise we will head out to explore one of these locations, returning to town for breakfast before packing and checking out of our hotel. Hopefully we get to catch sight of a quokka, bandicoot or Scarlet Robin on our walks. We spend the entire morning exploring the Pemberton region on a series of short easy walks. After lunch we will drive to Walpole-Norbalup National Park, where there is an easy 800 metre loop walk through the tingle tree forest. These trees can have a girth of more than 24 metres and are home to Red-eared Firetails and “Twenty-eight Parrots”, a subspecies of the Australian Ringneck. Accommodations: Tree Top Walk Motel, Walpole. Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner included

The wildlife is best early, so we make the most of this with an early morning trip out to The Coalmine Knolls to search for Quokka, Western Grey Kangaroo, Yellow-footed Antechinus and maybe even dolphins. After this we travel to the nearby Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk. Here we walk on a suspended boardwalk up in the canopy of the towering red tingle trees, 40m above the forest floor of swordgrass and endemic tassel flower. If uncomfortable with heights there is a self-guided 500m loop walk on terra firma. After lunch, we drive to Albany with stops at Morley Beach where we will look for shorebirds, such as Pacific Golden and Grey Plover, Common Greenshank and Red-capped Plover. Accommodation: Country Comfort Amity Motel, Albany. Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

In Albany, we will explore Lake Seppings for Spotless Crake, Buff-banded Rail, Yellow-billed Spoonbill and Magpie Lark, an uncommon bird in the West. With any luck a Honey Possum may be out on the flowering banksia. Returning to the hotel to pack and check out we then venture to the Porongurups, a 1.2 Billion year old range, a leftover from an ancient mountain. The Porongurups have been isolated for millions of years and have a huge array of endemic species. We will look for trapdoor spiders, the totem of the local Noongar people, and also bird specials like Rufous Treecreeper and White-breasted and Western Yellow Robin. We’ll have a picnic lunch surrounded by this culturally significant site. After lunch we head to Bremer Bay. Accommodation: Bremer Bay Resort Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Today we embark on one of the most amazing experiences of the tour, heading out to look for orcas in the Bremer Canyon. There are chances to also see blue and sperm whales, Black-browed and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, Flesh-footed Shearwater as well as White-faced and Wilson's Storm-petrel. It's a full day experience, starting at 8.00 am and finishing at 4.30 pm and is spent off the Continental shelf, almost two hours from land. Accommodation: Bremer Bay Resort Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

We return to our usual routine today, with an early morning outing. This time we will explore the airport for Grey Currawong, Western Whipbird and Southern Emu-wrens as well as the inlet for Pelican, Peregrine Falcon, Spotted Harrier, various terns and waders. Return for breakfast before packing and checking out from our hotel. We drive to the Stirling Ranges, a dramatic sandstone range with 1,000 metre peaks rising above the flat plains. The Stirling Ranges are almost as old as the Porongurups and equally amazing due to the endemism it holds, for both flora and fauna. We have a picnic lunch here before heading to Kojorup to wander through the Kodja Place, a site dedicated to the unity between Indigenous Australians and the local community - a light for reconciliation and hope for equality on all levels. The evening is all based around our nocturnal visit to Barna Mia, a wildlife refuge and breeding area for some of the last remaining Bilbies, Brush-tailed and Burrowing Bettongs and Rufous Hare-wallaby. It's a truly amazing experience to see these animals, as they are near impossible to encounter in the wild. Our visit not only allows us to see these animals, but provides vital funding to the centre to possibly bring them back from the brink of extinction. There is a chance to see the Western Quoll and Red-tailed Phascogale too. Accommodation: Bella's Bred and Breakfast Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

This morning is all about the Numbat. Dryandra forest offers the best possibility in the world of seeing one in the wild. We will check out a few sites in search of these endearing, small marsupials. Their diet is primarily termites. In late summer and early autumn the best time to see them is mid morning, so that's precisely when we will be there looking. We head to Perth for lunch at a waterhole that is usually prolific with waterfowl, hopefully catching sight of Blue-billed Duck, Pink-eared Duck and Australasian Shoveler. After lunch we will start the drive back to your CBD accommodation, arriving around 3.00 to 3.30 pm depending on traffic. Accommodation: Not included, but ask us about recommendations. Meals: Breakfast and Lunch