Koaala, Phascolarctos cinereus

Kui kängurusid näeb Austraalias ilma suurema vaevata - tuleb vaid linnast välja sõita ja seal nad juba ootavad. Kuukabarrasid ja kakaduusid kohtad samuti tihti ning isegi sipelgasiili õnnestus meil kohata mitmes erinevas paigas. Aga koaalad? Nende puhul oli ühel hetkel tunne, et neid maskott-loomi ei eksisteerigi vabas looduses. Käisime karvapalle otsimas nii Queenslandi kui ka Australian Capital Territory matkaradadel, kuid ei midagi. Mitte ühtki karvast kõrvatutti. Kuniks päris reisi lõpus jõudsime Great Otway rahvusparki Victoria osariigi lõunaservas. Sealsete eukalüptide võradest leidsime lõpuks kolm erinevat koaalat, kellest kaks tegid seda, mida koaalad kõige paremini oskavad (magasid), aga üks (kes ka pildil) oli veidi aktiivsem vennike.

Kangaroos are ridiculously easy to spot in Australia — honestly, you just have to leave the city and they’re basically waiting for you. Kookaburras and cockatoos show up all the time too, and we even managed to run into echidnas in a few different places. But koalas? At one point it really started to feel like this “national mascot” just doesn’t exist in the wild. We searched for them on hiking trails in both Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory… nothing. Not a single fluffy ear in sight. Then, right at the very end of our trip, we ended up in Great Otway National Park down in southern Victoria — and finally, jackpot. Up in the eucalyptus trees we spotted three different koalas. Two were doing what koalas do best (sleeping, obviously), but one — the one in the photo — was actually awake and moving around a bit. A true overachiever.