Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodges

I used to guide wildlife groups to this lodge half a dozen times a year up until about 2001.I have since returned with a few school and wildlife groups, and have come back to stay myself to get photographs for the Ecosystem Guides book "Rainforest of tropical Australia" and lately to get footage for a series of documentaries.

Nature experience and Wildlife viewing:

There is a trail around the property, but you'll spend most of your time around the central porch area. Here there are birds on the edge of the forest during the morning, including Brush Turkey, Lewins Honeyeater, Victoria's Riflebird (a type of bird of paradise), Golden Whistler, Bower's shrike-thrush, Boobook, Eastern Whipbird, Crimson Rosella, King Parrots, Laughing Kookaburra, Grey Fantail, and many others. During the spring, the Tooth-billed Bowerbird rips off and uses laurel leaves for diplay stages. If the bird feeders are used, they attract Lewins Honeyeaters, Macleays Honeyeater and Victoria's riflebird.

In the later afternoon rainforest wallabies called Red-legged Pademelons start to gather. Every night when there are guests the owner John Chambers gives talks on the pademelon behaviours.

Afterwards there is the option of going down with one of the family to a shelter and some trees where they wipe some honey on a tree. If you are lucky and patient, you should may see a sugar glider or two land quietly on the tree trunk and start laping at the honey. At this point you can get quite close for photographs.

The location of Chambers is also convenient as it central to many of the best mid-altitude sites of the Atherton Tablelands. The property itself is right on the edge of the Lake Eacham area, and a ten minute drive from Cathedral Fig, Lake Barrine and the Curtain Fig.