Tasmania Wildlife Encounters: Wombats, Devils and World-Class Nature

Tasmania is the last refuge for several species found nowhere else in the world, and wildlife encounters are among the most compelling reasons to visit the island. The Tasmanian devil is the most iconic, and the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program has established several facilities offering close encounters including Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary at Brighton (south of Hobart), the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo on the Tasman Peninsula and the Tasmania Zoo near Launceston. Wild wombats can be encountered at dusk on farmland roadsides across most of Tasmania; Freycinet Peninsula, the Cradle Mountain plateau and the Tasman Peninsula are particularly reliable locations. Spotted-tail quolls and eastern quolls are visible at Bonorong. Platypus can be seen dawn and dusk in many of Tasmania's freshwater rivers; the Liffey River Falls trail near Liffey is a consistently reliable location. Little penguins (fairy penguins) return to their burrows at several coastal sites at dusk, including Bicheno and Penguin township on the northwest coast.