Day in the Life: Seal Bay Senior Guide

There’s a rea­son why this place is a hotspot for vis­i­tors from near and far. Kan­ga­roo Island is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble via a quick flight or fer­ry from the mainland.

With a stun­ning coast­line and windswept cliffs look­ing out to the South­ern Ocean, there is plen­ty to see, but the real stars of Seal Bay are the charm­ing Aus­tralian sea lions.

Endem­ic to South Aus­tralia and West­ern Aus­tralia, these sea lions are an endan­gered species with a total pop­u­la­tion esti­mat­ed around 10,500. Of these, approx­i­mate­ly 800 call Seal Bay home. This makes it the third-largest colony of these cap­ti­vat­ing creatures.

What sets Seal Bay apart is the unique oppor­tu­ni­ty it offers to observe these sea lions up close. This is espe­cial­ly mag­i­cal dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son when you can watch young pups frol­ic in the sand and play in the shal­low waters along­side their new­born buddies.

Senior Guide Emma Wal­lace is lucky enough to call Kan­ga­roo Island her office. Hear a lit­tle more about her role below.

Words by Emma Wal­lace, Seal Bay Senior Guide…

How would you describe a day in your life to some­one con­sid­er­ing this job?

No two days are the same at Seal Bay. If you love a vari­ety of odd jobs, tour guid­ing dynam­ic groups of peo­ple and observ­ing wild, unpre­dictable ani­mals, Seal Bay is the place to be! We are often reward­ed with some of the most unique and beau­ti­ful wildlife expe­ri­ences in our role. Some days, whilst observ­ing the sea lions, it feels like you are watch­ing a live doc­u­men­tary unfold.

What’s the first thing you do when you arrive?

Upon arrival at Seal Bay each morn­ing, staff set up the site for the day ahead. This involves ensur­ing tills and radios are on and work­ing, appro­pri­ate sig­nage is on dis­play and either get­ting ready to take the first tour of the day or assist­ing at the counter (depend­ing on which guide you are). In win­ter, a path­way check is a MUST! We may arrive to sea lions sleep­ing or roam­ing around the vis­i­tor cen­tre or on des­ig­nat­ed path­ways for the board­walk and guid­ed tours. We often mon­i­tor them and let them get the rest they need until they decide to move on.

How do you han­dle unpre­dictable wildlife behav­iour dur­ing a tour?

Upon com­mence­ment of employ­ment at Seal Bay, all guides are edu­cat­ed on how to deal with Aus­tralian Sea Lion (ASL) behav­iour and approach­es. The sea lions are quite expres­sive with how they are feel­ing. When guides notice the first signs of dis­tur­bance or aggres­sion, they move their groups to a safer view­ing area. We are con­stant­ly alert and check­ing all surroundings. 

Are there any con­ser­va­tion efforts you’re involved in dur­ing the day?

We are, first and fore­most a con­ser­va­tion park for our Aus­tralian sea lions, but also for oth­er species, includ­ing some that are also endan­gered too. Amongst the sea lions, we often have Hood­ed Plover pairs each sea­son mak­ing attempts to nest, as well as lit­tle pen­guins moulting/​breeding in bur­rows. We also have eagles, rare birds, snakes, goan­nas, kan­ga­roos, echid­nas, wal­la­bies and the odd koala come for a vis­it. It is a very unique and diverse place that needs to be pro­tect­ed to main­tain the fine balance.

What’s some­thing most peo­ple don’t realise about sea lions?

There are a lot of things that peo­ple don’t realise about sea lions. Many peo­ple are under the impres­sion that they are a very lazy crea­ture with an easy lifestyle. It can be eas­i­ly inter­pret­ed this way when you view them on land. Unfor­tu­nate­ly for them this is not so much the case. They actu­al­ly trav­el out to sea for rough­ly three days, up to 100kms off shore with no sleep or rest. Their pre­ferred prey resides among the ocean floor, which means the sea lions are div­ing between 100 – 300m deep, up to 1,000 times in three days! Peo­ple don’t realise how unique and impor­tant they are to our nat­ur­al world.

What’s some­thing you do at work that vis­i­tors don’t see?

Field days! This includes par­tic­i­pat­ing in month­ly colony counts, some­times assist­ing researchers with GPS attach­ments to sea lions, and assist­ing with microchip­ping sea lion pups dur­ing breed­ing seasons.

What’s the most reward­ing thing about being a guide at Seal Bay?

The most reward­ing part about being a guide at Seal Bay is know­ing that we are con­tribut­ing to rais­ing aware­ness of an endan­gered and endem­ic species to Aus­tralia. We are the front­line of edu­cat­ing the gen­er­al pub­lic about the impor­tance of our Aus­tralian sea lions and con­ser­va­tion. Being able to change people’s per­spec­tives is a very reward­ing feeling.

Book a tour with Emma and the Seal Bay team and learn all about this tourism hotspot.

Park of the Month

Through­out Feb­ru­ary, parks of Kan­ga­roo Island are being cel­e­brat­ed as the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice South Australia’sPark of the Month. There are lots of events and activ­i­ties to get involved in, check them all out here.