Shark Bay is a fantastic tourist destination.Shark Bay is about 800 km north of Perth and is the most westerly part of the Australian mainland. It is one of the country’s most important historic sites and a fantastic tourist destination. Shark Bay has a strong history link with the early Dutch exploration with the first landing recorded in Australia in 1616. This is an area of beautiful beaches, excellent fishing (both deep sea and shoreline), bushwalking and Western Australia’s most famous natural tourist attraction - the friendly bottle-nosed dolphins at Monkey Mia. Today Shark Bay is recognised as one of the most remarkable places on Earth. This amazing area was placed on the World Heritage list in 1991, and is one of sixteen places in the world that satisfy all four natural criteria for listing. The four natural criteria are:
• MAJOR STAGES OF THE EARTH’S EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. • GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES. • NATURAL BEAUTY. • THREATENED SPECIES. There are 830 properties on the World Heritage list with sixteen Australian properties listed. For more information regarding World Heritage listing click here. For more information specific to Shark Bay World Heritage list click here. Shark Bay was inhabited by Aboriginals for thousands of years and evidence of their presence can still be seen in caves and shell middens around Peron Peninsula. They were probably among the first Australian Aboriginals who had contact with Europeans. The first European landing recorded in Australia took place in October 1616 when Dutch Sea Captain Dirk Hartog landed at Cape Inscription on the island that now bears his name (Dirk Hartog Island). The next recorded visit was in 1697 by another Dutch Captain - William De Vlamingh some 81 years later. Many English and French explorers followed, William Dampier named the area Sharks Bay in 1699 and a Frenchman - Francois St. Allouarn laid formal claim to the territory for France in 1772. SHARK BAY IS RICH IN FAUNA The Department of Environment and Conservation has a project called - Project Eden and this project says - “Francois Peron National Park and the Shark Bay World Heritage Area is a mecca for visitors interested in discovering unique and diverse wildlife. Ten species of mammals, 98 species of reptiles, and more than 100 species of land-based, wading and migratory birds live along the shore and in the coastal desert of the Bay. While several endangered mammals survive on Shark Bay's offshore islands, a large number of species have disappeared from arid parts of Australia. This is largely because of predation by introduced foxes and cats and competition from introduced grazing animals such as rabbits, goats and sheep.The department's Project Eden is attempting to bring back endangered wildlife to Shark Bay's Peron Peninsula. As well as widespread baiting to remove feral cats, foxes, goats and rabbits from a 1050 square kilometre area of the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, a 3.4 kilometre fence has been built to keep the ferals out. By the end of 2001, foxes had all but been eradicated and around 70 per cent of feral cats had been removed. Animal species such as the red-tailed phascogale, rufous hare-wallaby, banded hare-wallaby, western barred bandicoot and chuditch may soon be reintroduced. Woylies, bilbies and malleefowl have already been released. Project Eden is set to make the Shark Bay World Heritage Area one of the wildlife wonders of the world.” WILDFLOWERS
Western Australia is well known as the wildflower capital of Australia. With Shark Bay strategically situated at the northern extreme of the southern wildflower varieties and at the southern extreme of the northern varieties this area has the longest wildflower season of any part of Western Australia with it’s over 700 species of flowering plants. There are 145 known plant species at their northern limit in Shark Bay; and 39 known plant species at their southern limit in Shark Bay. Of the many flowering plants, more than 150 species are of special scientific interest with many of them exclusive to the Shark Bay World Heritage Area. The aromatic Tamala rose is one of the region's most well known and showy species. The Shark Bay daisy, Royce's Gum, Rogerson's grevillea and golden lambstail are also confined to the Shark Bay region. Things to see: MONKEY MIA There is no doubt that the dolphins of Monkey Mia are one of the true wonders of Australia. The area was first settled by Europeans in the late nineteenth century and for a few brief years became a pearling station. However there was no regular water supply (the water at the caravan park now comes from the desalination plant at Denham) and the settlement disappeared. In the early 1960s a woman named Mrs. Watts started feeding the wild dolphins which followed her husband’s fishing boat to a campsite on the shoreline. Today this feeding still occurs and Monkey Mia is a unique opportunity for humans to make contact with these mysterious and wonderful sea creatures. Details about the dolphins: (i) it is totally arbitrary as to when the dolphins come in to visit the visitors. It is more likely for them to visit during the morning but they have been known not to come in at all (two days in a period of two years) and to only pay one afternoon visit. The Rangers advise that people wanting to see the dolphins should be prepared to spend 24 hours at Monkey Mia. (ii) The Rangers do feed the dolphins a small amount of fish but they do not feed the dolphins at the same time each day. Therefore there is no pattern to the feeding. The dolphins will come in and not be fed. At other times they will be fed. (iii) in November there is the mating season and the dolphins become more erratic in their visits to the shore during this time. There tend to be fewer dolphins at mating season than at other times. For more information regarding our tour to Monkey Mia click here. HAMELIN POOL and the STROMATOLITES For more information regarding Hamelin Pool and Stromatolites click here USELESS LOOP The one sign of industry in Shark Bay is the industrial salt township and saltpans of Useless Loop. The township has a population of about 200¬-250 people and has been operating since 1968. Its distance from Denham (25 km by sea and 250 km by road), and the fact that as a mining town it offers no accommodation for visitors, has ensured that only the most persistent of tourists make the journey to the small settlement. Access by road is restricted to 4WD vehicles only.
EAGLE BLUFF About 20 km south of Denham is Eagle Bluff where a huge population of dugongs lives. They can be seen in summer when they come close to the shore to feed on the sea grass in the area. It is claimed that Shark Bay has the world’s largest population of Dugongs. Eagle Bluff is also included in our tour. SHELL BEACH For more information regarding Shell Beach click here. To find out the typical weather click here. Or Have a look at where Our Tours go in Western Australia.
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