Where Can I Take A Selfie With Kangaroos In Australia?
Do you want to take a selfie with you and a kangaroo?
I’m willing to bet the answer is yes - we all do! Let’s impress your friends with a great picture of you and Australia’s most iconic animal. This article will show you the best places to take a selfie with a kangaroo.
Where did I take a selfie with kangaroos in Australia? There are three recommended places in Australia to take a selfie with a kangaroo. To take a selfie with a kangaroo in the wilderness go to Cape Hillsborough National Park in Queensland or Murramarang National Park in New South Wales. Another easy way to get a kangaroo selfie is when you go to Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney.
Kangaroos are one of Australia’s most iconic animals. Like the koala, kangaroos are well known beyond the Australian continent.
Why It Is Not Easy To Take A Selfie With A Kangaroo
I recently wrote about the fact that kangaroos are commonly found across the whole continent of Australia. So you might think that it is easy to take a selfie with kangaroos. Your plan could be to find one, go next to the animal and take the picture. But this plan, however, will not work.
Kangaroos Are Shy Animals
The reason why it is not easy to take a selfie with a kangaroo is that kangaroos are shy animals. This means they will run away when they see you. This makes it complicated to take a picture. So when you want to take a selfie, it’s even more complicated because you have to get extremely close to the animal.
This means we’re looking for places where kangaroos are not shy and do not run away when they see humans.
Where Kangaroos Are Used To Seeing Humans
Because kangaroos are too shy in their natural habitat and hop away, we need to find places where they are used to seeing humans.
There are some places in Australia where kangaroos are used to the presence of humans. They then usually don’t hop away when they see us. This is also because they get fed by humans and expect food from other visitors.
This is also why kangaroos in zoos don’t hop away, they are just used to seeing humans.
Best Places To Take A Selfie With Kangaroos
You can either go to a zoo or wildlife farm or into the wilderness to take a selfie with kangaroos in Australia. If you want a genuine selfie in the wilderness, I found the following places where kangaroos are less shy and it’s less likely that they will run away from you:
- Cape Hillsborough National Park, QLD
- Murramarang National Park, NSW
Kangaroos In The Cape Hillsborough Area
The Cape Hillsborough area is famous for its vast amount of trusting kangaroos. It has become one of Australia’s most popular spots to watch kangaroos in their natural habitat. They usually aren’t shy at all. You will find them on the beach, looking for seeds that got washed up on the beach.
The best time to see them is early in the morning or in the late evening. I can only recommend using this time to take a selfie with kangaroos. The minutes before sunset and after sunrise are called the golden hour. The temperature of the light is warm. It’s kind of golden and warm and allows you to take amazing pictures.
The early morning or late afternoon is also the best time to see kangaroos. This is because kangaroos are nocturnal animals and they are less active during the day.
Take A Selfie In Murramarang National Park
My second favorite place to take a selfie with kangaroos in Australia is Murramarang National Park in New South Wales. It’s a few hours south of Sydney and offers great possibilities to take selfies. I’ve come across some shy kangaroos at Murramarang National Park, but the majority of kangaroos grazing on the beach was peaceful and trusting.
As you can see in the picture, you can get pretty close to kangaroos. There are, however, some things you should consider when you’re standing next to a kangaroo to take a picture.
Safety Around Kangaroos
Especially when you’re taking a selfie it’s most likely that you will get close the kangaroo. Most kangaroos are very kind and gentle animals. But you should keep in mind that you’re dealing with wildlife. You never know what’s going to happen.
I’ve compiled a short introduction on how to deal with kangaroos when you want to take a selfie.
Always be careful with wildlife.
Keep a safe distance
Official sources (source) advise keeping a safe distance between you and the kangaroo. This is especially true when adult kangaroos believe you’re a threat to their joey (young kangaroo).
Additionally, every animal has its own personality and you can never know what to expect. So don’t assume every kangaroo behaves like the kangaroos you met before.
Officially it is also advised to maintain the distance between you and the animal when the animal moves towards you.
Kangaroos are good fighters. They can box and scratch to defend themselves. They also fight against each other to get access to females. Never go near or between fighting animals.
This doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to stand right next to a kangaroo. I’ve done it several times but you have to know what you’re getting into.
Take A Selfie in Wildlife Parks And Zoos
Australia’s wildlife parks and zoos offer a controlled environment to take a selfie with kangaroos. If you get the position right, you might not even notice that the picture was not taken in the wild.
Take A Selfie at Taronga Zoo in Sydney
If you’re in Sydney you can go to Taronga zoo. You can’t feed animals at Taronga zoo (read my article on that) but they have a large Australian walkabout yard with a free roaming kangaroo area. You are advised to stay on the path but kangaroos may hop to you. Then you can take a selfie.
Take A Selfie at Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney
Featherdale Wildlife Park is located in Doonside western Sydney and offers animal encounters where you can get close to joeys. It’s called “cute/cuddly encounter” and you can hold and sometimes feed a baby kangaroo (joey). This is the perfect opportunity to take an extremely cute selfie. You can’t do that in the wilderness because its mother would get furious if you get close to their young.
Other places where you can take a selfie:
- Maru Koala Park: If you’re in the Melbourne area you can go to Maru Koala Park to get close to kangaroos. https://www.marukoalapark.com.au/
- Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, 12 km from Brisbane City https://koala.net/kangaroo
- Kuranda Koala Gardens, 40 minutes north west of Cairns http://www.koalagardens.com/
- The Kangaroo Sanctuary, Alice Springs, https://kangaroosanctuary.com/
- Denmark Animal Farm & Pentland Alpaca Stud, Denmark, Western Australia http://www.pentlandalpacafarm.com.au/
More Than a Selfie: Feeding and Petting Kangaroos
Are you interested in more than taking a selfie? Do you want to feed and pet kangaroos?
Many places in Australia allow you to feed and pet kangaroos. I’ve written an entire on that topic. You can’t feed kangaroos at Taronga zoo, but my article includes the best places in Australia where you can either feed or pet kangaroos and their young (joeys). Click here to read this article.
