THE LAST GREAT WILDERNESS
WE’RE BARELY A METRE off the ground when our helicopter lurches and drops from a cliff top into the valley below. Bluffs of ochre sandstone whoosh by the open passenger door. Ahead, a sweep of savannah grassland reaches to the horizon. We’re aloft on the edge of Bunuba country, whirring along the Fitzroy River as it twists down gorges and tree-flanked channels through the Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges (formerly the King Leopold Ranges).
This is the famously huge Kimberley plateau, in northwestern Australia. There’s no simple way to gauge the breadth of a landscape of this scale. But taking to the skies is a good start. From a chopper, the plateau’s epic, fortress-like character is laid bare. Exposed is a potent mix of habitats, and it’s plain to see how this frontier is refuge for so many distinctive plants and animals. From up here another prospect looms–the daunting task of managing a place six times the size of Tasmania and in many parts just as rugged.
No surprise then that helicopters play a starring role. “They’re our workhorses,” says field ecologist Jamie Dunlop in a proper English accent through the chopper’s headset. “We use them to access survey sites that would be otherwise impossible to reach. They’re also essential to everything from fire management to our annual croc census.” Right on cue Jamie, a suburban Londoner who embraced the wilds of Australia to pursue a life in science, points out two freshwater crocodiles basking on the banks of the Fitzroy below. Jamie’s plied his trade as an ecologist across the country, but
