Frequently asked questions

What is the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail?

The Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail is a world class, 66 kilo­me­tre, 5‑day walk­ing expe­ri­ence giv­ing vis­i­tors access to some of the most rugged, remote and spec­tac­u­lar coast­lines in South Aus­tralia. The trail is locat­ed in the south west of Kan­ga­roo Island and encom­pass­es new and upgrad­ed trails through Flinders Chase Nation­al Park, Kel­ly Hill Con­ser­va­tion Park and the Cape Bouguer Wilder­ness Pro­tec­tion Area. Along with encoun­ters with some of the island’s most unique wildlife, the trail pro­vides access to the icon­ic attrac­tions of Remark­able Rocks, Admi­rals Arch, Weirs Cove, Han­son Bay and Kel­ly Hill Caves.

What are my walk options?

You can walk the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail as:

• a self-guid­ed walk­er using the camp­grounds pro­vid­ed (you will need to car­ry your own equipment).
• a self-guid­ed walk­er using the camp­grounds pro­vid­ed and a com­mer­cial oper­a­tor will trans­port your per­son­al equip­ment from one camp­ground to the next.
• a cus­tomer of a com­mer­cial tourism oper­a­tor either using the camp­grounds pro­vid­ed or stay­ing in pri­vate accom­mo­da­tion off of the trail.

Why do I need to book my walk?

The book­ing sys­tem reg­u­lates the num­ber of walk­ers depart­ing each day. This is to avoid over­crowd­ing, to pre­serve the wilder­ness expe­ri­ence for every­one, to reduce our envi­ron­men­tal impact and to ensure sus­tain­able man­age­ment of the track and camp­ground facilities.

How many peo­ple are allowed to depart each day? 

A max­i­mum of 12 inde­pen­dent walk­ers and 36 walk­ers guid­ed by com­mer­cial tour oper­a­tors, total­ing 48 walk­ers (includ­ing guides) are per­mit­ted to depart each day. These will be a mix of inde­pen­dent and guid­ed walk­ers with some camp­ing along the trail (camp­grounds cater for 24 walk­ers) and some stay­ing in off-trail accom­mo­da­tion. Of the com­mer­cial tour oper­a­tor walk­ers, only 12 are per­mit­ted to camp overnight, mean­ing there are a max­i­mum of 24 campers at each camp­ground per night.

How much does it cost to walk the trail, what is includ­ed and why is there a fee?

Includ­ed in this cost is your park entry fee, car park­ing at Flinders Chase Nation­al Park Vis­i­tor Cen­tre, Trail Guide and Trail Map. A bus trans­fer from Kel­ly Hill Caves to Flinders Chase Vis­i­tor Cen­tre is avail­able and can be paid when book­ing for the walk.

Our licensed tour oper­a­tors offer a range of pack­ages, from basic drop off/​pick up ser­vices to ful­ly guid­ed tours. Prices will depend on the pack­age you select.

Main­tain­ing a long-dis­­­tance walk­ing trail in a remote area is expen­sive. Your fee con­tributes to main­tain­ing and ser­vic­ing the trail to ensure it remains an excep­tion­al world-class tourism experience.

Do I need to pay a sep­a­rate park entry fee?

If you wish to vis­it the attrac­tions of Flinders Chase Nation­al Park before or after your walk, you will need to pay a sep­a­rate vis­i­tor fee. Please book online. Alter­na­tive­ly, your tour oper­a­tor may offer a pack­age that includes access to Flinders Chase Nation­al Park. 

What lev­el of walk­ing expe­ri­ence do I need?

The Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail is cat­e­gorised as a Grade 4 walk­ing trail under the Aus­tralian Walk­ing Track Grad­ing Sys­tem, mean­ing that some sec­tions are long, rough and very steep and direc­tion­al sig­nage is at times lim­it­ed. Bush­walk­ing expe­ri­ence is rec­om­mend­ed. For more infor­ma­tion on Grade 4 walk­ing trail guide­lines see the Users Guide to the Aus­tralian Walk­ing Track Grad­ing Sys­tem.

How fit do I need to be to walk the trail?

A good lev­el of fit­ness is required to walk the trail. You can expect to walk between 3.5 and 6.5 hours a day not includ­ing time for side trips. Walk dura­tions will also depend on your fit­ness lev­el, weath­er con­di­tions, how much weight you are car­ry­ing, and how long you stop for wildlife view­ing and rest breaks. If you need to build up your lev­el of fit­ness pri­or to the walk, we rec­om­mend start­ing with a 30 minute dai­ly walk and build­ing up to 6.5 hours. Be sure to tri­al walk­ing with the pack you intend to take so that you feel ful­ly prepared.

Is the trail suit­able for children?

The trail is not rec­om­mend­ed for chil­dren under the age of 10 due to the dis­tances trav­elled, exposed coastal envi­ron­ment and often adverse weath­er conditions.

When is the best time to walk?

The best time to go is March to Novem­ber how­ev­er every sea­son on Kan­ga­roo Island offers some­thing dif­fer­ent, so you’re sure to have an amaz­ing expe­ri­ence when­ev­er you vis­it. Kan­ga­roo Island’s weath­er is vari­able year round and changes in tem­per­a­ture and con­di­tions can occur sud­den­ly and with­out much warn­ing giv­en the island’s exposed loca­tion. You’re like­ly to expe­ri­ence a bit of every­thing on your walk – sun­shine, wind and rain. Walk­ers should be aware that on cat­a­stroph­ic fire days the park will be closed and walk­ers will be required to leave the trail. For more infor­ma­tion on sea­son­al high­lights and chal­lenges view the Sea­son­al Highlight’s fact sheet.

What do I need to take with me?

Pack­ing the right equip­ment will help you have a great expe­ri­ence on the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail. We’ve made things easy by prepar­ing a pack­ing list with all of your essentials.

Can I stay more than one night at each campground?

No. Walk­ers are only per­mit­ted to stay one night at each camp­ground to ensure the next group of walk­ers have access to their booked sites and that there are ade­quate facil­i­ties avail­able for all walk­ers on the trail.

What type of accom­mo­da­tion is pro­vid­ed on the trail?

Each camp­ground offers pad or plat­form based tent camp­ing, uni­sex toi­lets, shel­ter for food prepa­ra­tion and cook­ing, fil­tered rain­wa­ter, boot clean­ing sta­tions to reduce the risk of spread­ing Pc, and basic camp furniture.

If you choose to book with a tour oper­a­tor your pack­age may include accom­mo­da­tion out­side of the trail. 

If you need to organ­ise your own accom­mo­da­tion, keep in mind that the trail is locat­ed at the west­ern end of the island, approx­i­mate­ly 1.5 to 2 hours from the fer­ry and air­port arrival/​departure points. If you are doing mul­ti­ple sec­tions of the trail, we rec­om­mend book­ing accom­mo­da­tion close to the trail. That way you can kick things off with plen­ty of day­light hours ahead of you and fin­ish the walk with time to explore the won­ders of Flinders Chase Nation­al Park before indulging in the lux­u­ry of a hot show­er and soft bed.

Vis­it Tour Kan­ga­roo Island for accom­mo­da­tion options close to the trail. Advance book­ings are essential.

Are GPX, ESRI, KML, KMZ files avail­able for the trail?

Yes. The fol­low­ing files of the trail are avail­able for download:

• Google Earth file (KML/KMZ).
• GPX file for GPS units.
• ESRI Shape file for GIS users.

Vis­it Data​.SA Recre­ation Trails page to down­load GPX, ESRI, KML, KMZ files.

Is drink­ing water avail­able along the trail?

No, water is only avail­able at each camp­ground. Ensure you have enough water for each day. We sug­gest a min­i­mum of 3 litres per per­son per day. 

Is there mobile phone recep­tion on the trail?

Mobile phone recep­tion may be pos­si­ble on the Tel­stra net­work at some of the high­er points along the trail, but it is not guar­an­teed. You should antic­i­pate being out of con­tact with the out­side world for the dura­tion of the walk unless you are car­ry­ing a satel­lite phone or a per­son­al loca­tor device such as an EPIRB.

Are there guid­ed walks?

A num­ber of tour oper­a­tors offer guid­ed walks along the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail.

Can I walk just one sec­tion of the trail?

Yes. You may walk one or more sec­tions of the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail – Fire Recov­ery Expe­ri­ence. The tour oper­a­tors that pro­vide access to the trail also have a range of packages.

Can I take a group walk­ing on the trail? (schools, com­mu­ni­ty groups and incor­po­rat­ed clubs)

Yes, plan your trip in advance and con­tact the Flinders Chase Vis­i­tor Cen­tre on (+61 8) 8553 4410 for fur­ther details.

How do I get to Kan­ga­roo Island and where can I stay?

Plan­ning your trip Kan­ga­roo Island is essen­tial. It can trans­form your expe­ri­ence from a great walk to a trip of a life­time. You can dis­cov­er more about the Kan­ga­roo Island expe­ri­ences on offer, includ­ing where to stay, eat and play by vis­it­ing Tour Kan­ga­roo Island or by call­ing 1800 811 080.