Cairns and the surrounding areas are home to some of Australia’s most incredible wildlife – from cassowaries to platypuses to crocodiles and much more! The city is a haven for wildlife lovers, with many places nearby to discover amazing species. Discover the wonderful Cairns wildlife on day trips to the Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Rainforest, or the Atherton Tablelands – all of which boast a range of impressive animals. The wildlife of Tropical North Queensland is unique, with some species only found in this part of Australia. Discover the best places to see wildlife in Cairns below!
All of the places on this list involve seeing the Cairns wildlife in its natural habitat, as opposed to in captivity at the Cairns Zoo. We believe it’s much more rewarding to see these incredible animals in the wild, which you can do in all of the places on this list or on any of the Cairns wildlife tours recommended in this article!
Where to see wildlife in Cairns
Kuranda
The small mountain village of Kuranda is one of the best places to see wildlife in Cairns, Queensland. Located just a 35-minute drive from the centre of Cairns, Kuranda is surrounded by the world’s oldest surviving tropical rainforest – which means there is a range of incredible wildlife to see in the area!
Just outside the village lies the Barron Gorge National Park, which encompasses dense rainforest and the impressive Barron Falls. The rainforest here is home to one of the most important wildlife species in Cairns – the southern cassowary.
Cassowaries are large, flightless birds with red and blue colouring on their head and neck – as well as a unique horn-like casque on top of their head. They are essential for ensuring the diversity of rainforest trees, by dispersing fruits over long distances.
The best way to see a cassowary is to walk along any of the rainforest trails in the areas surrounding Kuranda. It’s even possible to see these impressive birds on roads through the area’s rainforest, so keep an eye out for them as you drive and take extra care to avoid hitting them as they are an endangered species.
To discover more of the area’s wonderful wildlife, we recommend taking a trip on the Kuranda Riverboat. We were pleasantly surprised with the wildlife we saw on our trip, and it also gives you the chance to learn about the area’s rainforest from an informative guide.
These trips cost just $25 AUD per person, and offer the chance to see some of the best wildlife species in the areas around Cairns including crocodiles, cassowaries, turtles, birds, and more! As an added bonus on our trip we got brilliant views of two welcome swallows flying in and around the boat.
Click here to find out more and book your trip on the Kuranda Riverboat website!
Unfortunately there are some wildlife experiences in Kuranda which involve animals in captivity, so we recommend avoiding these. It’s a much more rewarding experience to see the wildlife of Cairns and Australia actually in the wild, and thankfully there are chances to do this via the riverboat and various walking trails.
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is an obvious but essential inclusion on any list of the best places to see wildlife in Cairns. As the world’s largest coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef is home to some amazing marine species and is a bucket list destination for wildlife lovers!
Cairns is considered to be the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, with several tours to the reef departing the city every day. There are a range of different tour types available, including snorkelling and diving trips, glass-bottomed boat trips, scenic flights, and more.
Diving and snorkelling trips to the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns offer the best chance to see the reef’s diverse wildlife. Species you may encounter whilst snorkelling or diving at the reef include turtles, manta rays, reef sharks, giant clams, green humphead parrotfish – and many more!
We recommend booking a snorkelling or diving trip from Cairns to the outer reef, as this gives you the best chance to see a range of wildlife. The majority of tours and trips don’t visit the outer reef, which means it’s quieter and therefore easier to see some amazing marine life.
One of the best tours to the outer reef is available on the Get Your Guide website, starting from just $284 AUD per person. The tour visits three different sites on the Great Barrier Reef, giving you the opportunity to discover the area’s amazing underwater wildlife from Cairns!
Click here to book this amazing Great Barrier Reef trip on the Get Your Guide website!
If you want to see more of the Great Barrier Reef then it’s also worth taking a scenic flight to fully appreciate its beauty. From above you get the chance to see just how extensive the reef is, and it’s a spectacular sight! Scenic flights start from just $199 AUD per person, and can also be booked via Get Your Guide!
Click here to book an unforgettable scenic flight on the Get Your Guide website!
Etty Bay
The small town of Etty Bay is a hotspot for cassowary sightings, making it one of the best wildlife spots near Cairns. Situated on Queensland’s Cassowary Coast, Etty Bay Beach is a fairly well-kept secret despite frequent cassowary sightings.
Southern cassowaries are regularly seen walking along Etty Bay Beach, and if you’re lucky you may even spot a father with his chicks. Once female cassowaries lay their eggs, the father takes over and raises the chicks – so if you see an adult cassowary with their chicks then the adult will be male.
Some claim sightings of cassowaries are almost guaranteed when visiting Etty Bay, but unfortunately for us we didn’t see any on the beach our visit! One reason sightings are so common is that dogs are not allowed in Etty Bay in order to protect the area’s wildlife.
The best way to maximise your chances of seeing a cassowary on your visit is to spend at least one night at the Etty Bay Caravan Park. Both powered and unpowered sites are available, and there also cabins available if you aren’t travelling by campervan or motorhome. Click here to find out more on the Etty Bay Caravan Park website!
By staying for at least one night you give yourself a much higher chance of sightings, especially as the caravan park is right by the beach and cassowaries are regularly seen nearby. Staying overnight also increases your chances of seeing more of the wildlife around Cairns and Etty Bay, including kookaburras, rainbow bee-eaters, and even bandicoots – which can be seen after dark!
If seeing a cassowary is high on your bucket list of wildlife to see around Cairns, then a trip to Etty Bay is a must. It’s approximately a 75-minute drive from Cairns to Etty Bay, so it’s doable as a day trip – but we recommend spending the night if possible.
Alternatively, you can head down to Mission Beach for cassowary sightings near Cairns. Sightings are also quite frequent around Mission Beach, but it’s further away and sightings tend to be more common at Etty Bay.
Daintree Rainforest
Covering an area of over 1,200 square kilometres, the Daintree Rainforest is the largest rainforest in Australia. Located in Queensland approximately 100 kilometres north of Cairns, the rainforest is home to some of the area’s best wildlife.
Species found in the Daintree Rainforest include cassowaries, echidnas, snakes, tree kangaroos, colourful butterflies and many more! It’s even possible to see crocodiles in the Daintree River – so there is plenty of amazing wildlife to see on a day trip from Cairns!
There are several brilliant walking trails to follow in the Daintree Rainforest, including the Daintree Rainforest Circuit Track, the Jindalba Boardwalk, the Madja Boardwalk, the Dubuji Boardwalk, the Kulki Boardwalk, and many more! Click here to discover the rainforest’s best walking trails on the AllTrails website!
Of course there are no guarantees that you will see much wildlife on your visit to the Daintree Rainforest. That being said, the stunning nature alone makes it well worth a visit – especially when you have the chance to see some of the best wildlife in Cairns!
The Wet Tropics of Queensland has 13 endemic bird species, and four of these species can be seen in the Daintree Rainforest – the lesser sooty owl, pied monarch, Victoria’s riflebird, and Macleay’s Honeyeater. Several other brilliant bird species can be seen in the rainforest too including double-eyed fig parrots, kingfishers, red-necked crakes, and many more!
Discover the amazing wildlife of the Daintree Rainforest on a day trip from Cairns, either on a tour or by driving there yourself. There are several brilliant tours available on the Get Your Guide website, starting from around $179 AUD per person for a day trip from Cairns. Click here to check out the amazing tours on the Get Your Guide website!
Alternatively, if you opt to drive yourself then you will have more flexibility to decide exactly where you want to go. Renting a car can be surprisingly affordable, and is a great way to discover the Cairns wildlife in the Daintree Rainforest. Click here to find the best car rental deals through TripAdvisor!
Yungaburra
Situated in the Atherton Tablelands region of Far North Queensland, the town of Yungaburra is home to one of the most incredible wildlife species near Cairns – the platypus. Platypuses are notoriously shy and elusive creatures, but in Yungaburra sightings are fairly common.
There are two main places to see platypuses in the town – the designated Yungaburra Platypus Viewing Platform and Peterson Creek. The viewing platform and the surrounding area is particularly reliable for platypus sightings, whilst Peterson Creek offers the chance to see some more of the amazing wildlife species around Cairns.
Spotting a wild platypus does rely on a fair amount of luck, but due to the regular sightings around Yungaburra it’s worth spending a few hours here. These unique creatures are nocturnal, so try to visit as close to dawn or dusk as possible to give yourself the best chance of a sighting.
We enjoyed a particularly memorable sighting of a platypus during an afternoon in Yungaburra, and at times were less than a metre away as it inquisitively swam up to the edge of the water to get a better look at us! Of course sightings of a wild platypus are never guaranteed, but hopefully luck will be on your side too!
For the best chance on seeing a platypus in the area, we recommend reading our guide to platypus spotting in Yungaburra – which covers everything you need to know!
If you opt to visit Peterson Creek then you also have the chance to see some more of the amazing wildlife around Cairns, including pademelons, green ringtail possums, tree kangaroos, snakes, and more! We saw several pademelons and a green ringtail possum on our visit, as well as several turtles in the creek itself.
Yungaburra is definitely one of the best places to see a platypus in Australia, and provided us with by far our best sighting. The only other sighting we had was at the Platypus Viewing Platform in Maleny, which is around an hour and a half drive from Brisbane!
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