Frequently asked questions

What is the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail?

The Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail is a world class, 61 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 is the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail – Fire Recov­ery Experience?

The sum­mer 2019 – 20 bush­fires destroyed the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail and asso­ci­at­ed infra­struc­ture includ­ing the four camp­grounds, bridges, look­outs and trail markers.

Some sec­tions of orig­i­nal trail have now been mod­i­fied to pro­vide access to walk­ers. Camping/​accommodation on-trail is not avail­able. Access to each sec­tion of the five-day trail is pro­vid­ed by licensed tour oper­a­tors.

This once-in-a-life­time expe­ri­ence allows walk­ers to see the KIWT envi­ron­ment as it’s nev­er been seen before. Walk­ers will wit­ness the land­scapes ​‘unmasked’ and expe­ri­ence the beau­ty of regen­er­at­ing plants, eas­i­er wildlife spot­ting and vis­tas that pre-fire veg­e­ta­tion nev­er allowed.

Over the com­ing months, the orig­i­nal five day, four night Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail will be re-imag­ined and redesigned to ensure that this world-class expe­ri­ence comes back bet­ter than ever.

What are my walk options?

Access to the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail – Fire Recov­ery Expe­ri­ence is pro­vid­ed via licensed tour oper­a­tors only. Options pro­vid­ed by these tour oper­a­tors include:

• trans­fer ser­vices to and from the trail (you will need to arrange your own accommodation)
• off-trail accom­mo­da­tion and trans­fer services
• ful­ly guid­ed tours (with or with­out accommodation).

Some oper­a­tors may also offer a range of pack­ages for a com­plete Kan­ga­roo Island experience.

Why do I need to book my walk?

Access the the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail – Fire Recov­ery Expe­ri­ence is only pro­vid­ed by licensed oper­a­tors, so you need to book with your select­ed provider in advance to secure your place.

To pre­serve the wilder­ness expe­ri­ence for every­one, espe­cial­ly dur­ing this recov­ery phase, and to ensure sus­tain­able man­age­ment of the trail, walk­er num­bers will be limited.

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

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 7 hours a day, depend­ing on your fit­ness lev­el, weath­er con­di­tions and time tak­en for breaks and wildlife view­ing. 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 7 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?

By trav­el­ling with a tour oper­a­tor, you can trav­el light! Check with your tour oper­a­tor about what you should pack.

What type of accom­mo­da­tion is pro­vid­ed on the trail?

The Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail – Fire Recov­ery Expe­ri­ence does not include on-trail camp­ing or accommodation.

Depend­ing on the tour oper­a­tor you book with, your pack­age may include accommodation.

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. 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 – Fire Recov­ery Experience.

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 have a range of packages.

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

Yes. Access to the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail – Fire Recov­ery Expe­ri­ence is pro­vid­ed by licensed tour oper­a­tors, so please con­tact them to find out if they can accom­mo­date your group

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.

Is there any­thing to see? I thought the trail was destroyed by bushfires?

While the sum­mer 2019 – 20 bush­fires were dev­as­tat­ing, the bush bounces back quick­ly. Green shoots are spring­ing from tree trunks and tiny seedlings are emerg­ing from the soil. Yac­cas are putting on an amaz­ing show, with flower spikes reach­ing heights of 6 metres! It is easy to spot wildlife includ­ing kan­ga­roos, wal­la­bies, goan­nas, birds and echid­nas. With­out the dense veg­e­ta­tion, vis­i­tors can wit­ness a rarely seen land­scape – dis­cov­er the undu­lat­ing land­forms and expe­ri­ence 360 degree views. This real­ly is a once-in-a-life­time experience.

I want to help with the bush­fire recov­ery – how can I do this?

Just by walk­ing on the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail, you are help­ing with its recov­ery. The foot traf­fic of walk­ers will help keep the veg­e­ta­tion regrowth down along the trail. So while on the trail – don’t wor­ry about step­ping on plants!

By record­ing your plant and ani­mal obser­va­tions via cit­i­zen sci­ence apps, you are help­ing to grow knowl­edge about how the envi­ron­ment is recov­er­ing from the fires. Sight­ings of echid­nas, goan­nas, and birds, such as the west­ern whip­bird and south­ern emu-wren, means our fire recov­ery con­ser­va­tion pro­grams are help­ing ani­mal pop­u­la­tions rebuild. Grow­ing knowl­edge about how our pro­grams are work­ing leads to bet­ter con­ser­va­tion outcomes.

A por­tion of the fee you paid to walk the Kan­ga­roo Island Wilder­ness Trail will be direct­ed to sup­port­ing these con­ser­va­tion programs.