
Seal Bay Australian Sea Lion Walk
Walk the beach at Seal Bay Conservation Park with a ranger guide — Kangaroo Island's most famous wildlife experience puts you within metres of Australian sea lions, the rarest sea lion species in the world, resting on their home beach.
- 1
Seal Bay Conservation Park Entry
Seal Bay is home to a colony of 800 Australian sea lions — the third-largest breeding colony of one of the world's rarest marine mammals, accessible only with a ranger guide who walks the group onto the beach among the resting animals.
- 2
Seal Bay Beach
The beach at Seal Bay is where Australian sea lions return to rest after 3-day foraging trips in the Southern Ocean — the animals sprawl on the sand in family groups, completely habituated to the presence of small guided groups walking among them.
- 3
Sea Lion Pup Nursery
The Seal Bay nursery area at the back of the beach is where pup sea lions wait for their mothers to return from sea — the interaction between returning mothers and their pups, identified by smell among hundreds of animals, is the most compelling wildlife behaviour visible from the beach.
- 4
Boardwalk Self-Guided Section
The Seal Bay boardwalk above the beach allows self-guided viewing — the elevated perspective shows the full extent of the colony on the beach below and the approach of animals through the dunes, giving a different view than the beach-level ranger walk.
- 5
Vivonne Bay
Vivonne Bay west of Seal Bay was voted Australia's best beach in a national survey — the white sand, clear turquoise water, and complete absence of development on this sheltered South Coast bay make it as close to an untouched Australian beach as exists near a wildlife destination.
- 6
Little Sahara Sand Dunes
Little Sahara is a surprising landscape of white sand dunes rising 70 metres — the dune field is a remnant of ancient beach sands, now inland, that make an incongruous desert landscape in the middle of KI's coastal heath and farmland.