National Geographic Traveller UK - 04.2020

IS AUSTRALIA ON FIRE?

Parts of it are, yes. And the 2019-

2020 bush ire season has been

the most catastrophic on record.

At time of writing, 46 million

acres of land had burned in the

ires. For comparison, the entire

UK covers just under 60 million

acres. More than 30 lives had

been lost, and in excess of 6,000

buildings destroyed. However,

Sally Cope, Tourism Australia’s

regional general manager for the

UK and northern Europe, said:

“Fortunately, the majority of

destinations popular with overseas

tourists remain unafected.”

SO, WHICH BITS HAVE BEEN HIT?
There have been ires in all states,
but southern New South Wales
and eastern Victoria have been
worst hit. This includes many
beach and country towns that are
popular with domestic tourists,
but don’t usually feature on the
itineraries of visitors from the UK.
Key areas that have been
afected include Kangaroo Island
and the Adelaide Hills in South
Australia, plus parts of the Blue
Mountains in New South Wales.
The capital, Canberra, has also
been under threat.
However, lots of ire means
IMAGE: GETTYlots of smoke, which has led

SHOULD I TRAVEL TO AUSTRALIA?

THE TOURISM INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA IS FEELING THE WEIGHT FOLLOWING THE

CATASTROPHIC BUSHFIRES THAT STARTED LAST YEAR, BUT SHOULD TOURISTS BE

VISITING THE COUNTRY RIGHT NOW? WORDS: DAVID WHITLEY

HOT TOPIC

to key highways being closed,

dangerously poor air quality in

big cities and grey-black blankets

replacing bright blue skies.

Heavy rain in January has

helped curb the worst of

December’s horrors, but several

ires are still cropping up.

WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED?

Professor Ian Wright from

Macquarie University’s

Department of Biological

Sciences, says: “For many

millions of years, ire has been

an important and regular feature

of the environment in Australia,

especially in areas dominated by

eucalypts. Many species are highly

adapted to ire.

“When dry, eucalypt forests

produce substantial fuel loads

that are easily ignited by lightning.

The resulting ires, fanned by

strong winds during hot weather,

are very diicult to contain.” And

the perfect storm of extended

drought, plus very warm spring

and summer weather, has struck.

HOW CAN IT BE MANAGED?

Indigenous Australian groups have

always used controlled burns to

manage woods and forests, and

staf in national and state parks do

much the same thing.

Wright explains this can only go

so far, though. “Hazard-reduction

burning reduces fuel loads,

particularly in the understory of

forests. These burns may serve

to reduce the spread and severity

of low-intensity ires, but under

extreme ire conditions — as

experienced this summer — they

make little diference.”

WHAT ABOUT THE WILDLIFE?

There’s no doubt the ires have

had a devastating efect on the

wildlife. The total toll will take a

long time to work out, but ignore

any hyperbolic nonsense about

the ires making koalas extinct.

SHOULD I CANCEL MY TRIP?

In most of the drawcard

destinations — Sydney,

Melbourne, Perth, Kakadu,

the Red Centre, Queensland’s

beaches, Tasmania’s mountain

walks, the wine regions and the

Great Barrier Reef — you’re not

going to be anywhere near a

bushire. Special ire management

eforts have also been put in place

to protect key attractions in the

areas that have been afected.

Tourism Australia has created a

helpful, frequently updated map

of the afected areas: australia.

com/en-gb/travel-alerts.html

KEY SITES:

WHERE’S STILL OPEN?

KANGAROO ISLAND

Travel to and from

Kangaroo Island is

unrestricted, and the

ires have largely been

contained in the western

half of the island, which

includes Flinders Chase

National Park. At the end

of January, travel here

wasn’t recommended

except for access. Some

accommodation options

in the west are closed

until further notice, but

the South Australian

Tourism Commission

says the east is open

for business.

CANBERRA

It’s the national and

state parks around

Canberra that have

been worst hit. The

city’s airport was briely

closed, but most of the

key attractions are in

unaffected central areas.

BLUE MOUNTAINS

Though some alarmist

assessments have said

up to 80% of the Blue

Mountains region has

been lost to bushires,

the actual igure is more

like 20%. Thankfully,

natural regeneration

will replenish most of

the damaged sections.

The most-visited area

— Katoomba and the

Jamison Valley — got off

very lightly. The Scenic

Railway into the valley was

temporarily closed while

ireighters used it, but

reopened in December.

View from Echo Point

lookout, Blue Mountains,

New South Wales

TRAVEL GEEKS

April 2020 159