Introduction to Kangaroo Island

110km (68 miles) S of Adelaide

Kangaroo Island is one of Australia's best-kept secrets. While lots of people overseas sing its praises -- it was ranked the Best Island in the Asia Pacific region in the U.S. magazine National Geographic Traveler in late 2007 and was also voted Best Australian Experience by 8,500 North American travel agents at the industry's 2007 Opal Awards -- it's a place that seems to have slipped under the radar of many Australians. (When they consider an island holiday, they tend to automatically think tropical sun, sand, and sea and head to the Northern Queensland islands.) Which is a shame, because KI, as the locals call their island home, is the best place Down Under to see Australian marsupials in the wild.

Close to half of the island is either natural bushland or national park; and according to the boffins, who count these type of things, it is home to 4,000 penguins, 6,000 fur seals, 600 rare Australian sea lions, 5,000 koalas, 15,000 kangaroos, 254 species of birdlife, and somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million tammar wallabies, thanks largely to an environment free of introduced foxes or rabbits, who prey on the native inhabitants or their environment. While the animals are what most people come to see, the scenery is also spectacular. Think rugged coastal cliffs with startling rock formations, rolling pasture-clad hills, dense eucalypt forests, gorgeous beaches, caves, lagoons, and black-water swamps.

The island's history is a harsh one. Aborigines inhabited KI as early as 10,000 years ago but abandoned it for unexplained reasons. In the 19th century, pirates, mutineers, deserters from English, French, and American ships, and escaped convicts from the eastern colonies settled here. Sealers also arrived and devastated the seal and sea lion population: In just 1 year, from 1803 to 1804, they killed more than 20,000 animals. Between 1802 and 1836, Aboriginal women from both the mainland and Tasmania were kidnapped, brought to Kangaroo Island, and forced to work catching and skinning seals, kangaroos, and wallabies, and lugging salt from the salt mines.

In 1836, Kangaroo Island became the first place in South Australia to be officially settled. The state's capital was Kingscote (which was abandoned a couple of years later in favor of Adelaide). In spite of its early settlement, Kangaroo Island had very few residents until after World War II, when returning soldiers set up farms here. Today, more than a million sheep are raised on the island. The island also acts as an official bee sanctuary to protect the genetic purity of the Ligurian bee, introduced in 1881; it is believed to be the only place in the world where this strain of bee survives.