The Daintree river, worked by small boat, is the reliable wildlife of the region. Estuarine crocodiles bask on the mud, azure kingfishers and great-billed herons work the banks, and tree snakes drape the overhanging branches. The early morning cruises are far better than the midday ones.

Cape Tribulation and the boardwalks at Dubuji and Marrdja are where southern cassowaries are most often encountered — a metre-and-a-half flightless bird with a blue neck and a bony casque, and genuinely dangerous if cornered. Give them space and never get between an adult and chicks.

The Mossman Gorge section is the accessible rainforest walk, with Kuku Yalanji guided walks that explain the forest as a resource and a homeland rather than a scenic backdrop.

The night walks are essential here: the Daintree's mammals are almost all nocturnal, and a guided spotlight walk produces ringtail and striped possums, Bennett's tree-kangaroo in the right areas, bandicoots, and an extraordinary insect and frog fauna.

The dry season from May to September is the comfortable window with better road access; the wet season from December to March brings floods, road closures and stinger season on the coast.

Practicalities

The Daintree is around two hours north of Cairns, with a cable ferry crossing the river — queues can be long in season. There is no mains power north of the river in places, and mobile coverage is patchy.

Every waterway here holds crocodiles: do not swim, and stay back from the banks. The forest is Eastern Kuku Yalanji country and their guiding operations are the best way to understand what you are walking through.