Cairns: Night Wildlife Walk in the Botanic Gardens

I had a wonderful time learning about all of the animals we got to see on the tour. Bridgette tailored the tour around what we were most interested in seeing, and followed up the same night with a field report of what we’d observed. I learnt some good tips for spotting animals in the dark, that served me well for two more successful nights of solo spotting on my trip!

Saw the brochure in the hotel lobby and checked out the website for availability. Booked and later that evening went on the tour with Bridgette who was wonderful. Did the camera hire and had fun with trying macro photography. All in all a fun and interesting way to spend a night in Cairns.

We loved our private night walk tour at the Cairns Botanic Gardens with Bridgette. We did tours with Bridgette at Let's Go Buggin 6 years ago and enjoyed them it so we booked a Night Walk and Morning walk since we were visiting Cairns again. My 17 year old son, who is interested in macro photography, had so many great opportunities to capture amazing subjects like frogs, spiders, insects and some fascinating caterpillars. It was perfect for him. We also loved spotting wildlife like a striped possum, which was incredibly cute and something quite different, along with a bandicoot and even a freshwater eel. Bridgette was fantastic - very knowledgeable, great at finding wildlife, and excellent at pointing everything out so we didn’t miss a thing. Highly recommend this tour for anyone visiting Cairns, especially if you love nature or photography.

I was a little anxious because I couldn't speak English, and the guide spoke only a little Japanese, but he was kind and friendly, which was great fun. I also included myself in the six groups, three of which were Japanese, and it was a tour that was in harmony with the other customers. From the start to the end of the tour, many of the creatures were raining and could be seen were spiders, but we could also see frogs, dragonflies and even wild wallabies! It was so cute, but I ran away before I could take a picture.... And I couldn't see the beetles, which were for personal purposes. I went with a raincoat, long pants and sneakers, thinking I was going to walk on a muddy road, but it rained, so the road was mostly like a wood deck, so maybe I could have used sandals that I could walk on well. However, mosquitoes are present, so insect bite control is necessary. I wore a raincoat over my long sleeves for sports, and it was muggy, maybe because of the rain, but is it a little hot? It might be cold to wear just one short sleeve. And there's no toilet, so you should go. If you are interested in living things, this tour was a must! Thank you very much, Rachel!

Had an absolutely brilliant time with Bridgette on a shrooming walk! I'm a big fungi nerd back in the UK where I'm from, and really wanted to learn about some Aussie species. Usually Bridgette doesn't run these tours during the winter as it's not as an abundant time of the year, but we'd had some rain and I was enthusiastic enough - and we ended up seeing plenty! I can't reccommend these tours enough to anyone who's passionate about fungi, bugs, photography and nature in general! Bridgette is a real expert with a fantastic scope of knowledge and passion.

ガイドさんが子どもにもわかりやすく、生き物がいる場所を説明してくれました。 日本ではできない体験で、子どもも大人も素晴らしい時間を過ごせました。 また次回も必ず参加したいです！ 今度はタランチュラの“足“ではなく、姿を見たいです！ The guide explained where to find the animals in a way that was easy for children to understand. It was an experience we could never have in Japan, and both kids and adults had a wonderful time. We would love to visit again. Next time, we hope to see a tarantula!

It was a dry season, so we didn’t expect much first. However, when we went into a forest, we spotted so many creatures. We couldn’t stop looking around to find more creatures! If you like animals and insects, you should try this one. You will be surprised how many creatures you can find and how close they are from where you’re walking.

Incredible, fascinating, illuminating and so. Much. Fun! I've done this tour a few times now, both morning and night and both are a fantastic experience. You'd couldn't get a better guide than Bridgette who really knows her stuff about both the wildlife, plant life and photography. It feels like you're unlocking a new world when you're taking photos - pro tip, spring for the intermediate or professional camera hire if you can as the photo results are well worth it. You don't need to be a whiz to be able to take some awesome photos! I'm a Cairns local and this is a tour I think even locals can gain a lot from. 🕷️🐌🪲🐝🦟🪰🦋🐛🪱/10

My son and I had a wonderful time. We hired cameras and it was great to learn how to shoot macro. We enjoyed seeing all the amazing little creatures and Brigette was an amazing host who certainly knows her stuff. Highly recommend.

We arranged a private trip for our family of 10. 4 youngsters aged 2,5,8,11 plus parents and grandparents thoroughly enjoyed our night exploration through the dark and peaceful rainforest. Our particular highlights were 2 Papuan Frogmouths, a possum, a pademelon and a white lipped frog. We saw some amazing spiders - the tent spider being a stand out for me - and learnt lots about them from Bridgette, our guide, who very patiently listened and responded to a stream of questions particularly from 8 year old Luke. He and his older brother were able to use macro cameras, lent by Bridgette, to record some of their sightings. We would highly recommend a night out bugging with Bridgette in Cairns, Australia.