Experience the Daintree Rainforest and Australia's rich Aboriginal culture on this full-day tour from Cairns or Port Douglas. Learn about traditional hunting and gathering techniques on Cooya Beach with an indigenous guide, then visit the World Heritage-listed Daintree Rainforest. Gain insight into Australia's indigenous heritage and marvel at the natural beauty of the Rainforest at Mossman Gorge, with two options for the afternoon: Guided walk through the World Heritage rainforest; or upgrade to the Ngadiku Walk with an Aboriginal guide who shares Dreamtime stories and deep knowledge of the land. Throughout the day, enjoy a hands-on experience on this small-group tour limited to 16 participants.
Posted By : jimmZ1992TV
We had a great time on the Daintree trip. It was only our family of 5 departing from Cairns, so our driver Mark was a great private guide to help explain the local flora and fauna. On the drive home he stopped on the side of the road where he spotted some wallaby so we could get a closer look. The spearfishing portion was amazing with everyone able to stab some sand crabs for lunch. It was a long walk through shallow water with a muddy surface, so you need to be in decent shape, but worth it. We ran short of time during the fishing part, so didn't get to eat the crab, but we drove over to Daintree for a nice lunch there. We experienced the welcome smoking ceremony and were guided around a path through Daintree. The boulders up on that mountain rainforest are like something out of science fiction. All in all a great day.
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Posted On : 2023-07-03 21:17:25 
Posted By : Camverra M
Unfortunately I was only informed that the trip was cancelled the day before it was scheduled apparently because I was the only person who had booked it. This left me with no time or opportunity to book another tour option due to the busy period. Judging by some other reviews, I’m sure this tour would be amazing but perhaps the customer service needs to be reassessed. I’m not waiting a full refund which I hope I will receive as soon as possible.
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Posted On : 2022-06-25 19:16:59
Posted By : Cara D
We had this tour booked for our first wedding anniversary. We had planned our whole trip around this tour, and they cancelled 330pm the day before. That leaves 0 time to book another activity given it is 3.30pm on a Friday. No explanation provided as to why. Extremely Extremely disappointing
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Posted On : 2022-05-13 02:05:52
Posted By : toffee66_10
Started and continued the day right on time. Personable and very well informed guides. Loved the welcome to country ceremony and the walk through the rainforest to Mossman Gorge was exhilarating. There was an option to do traditional aboriginal fishing or aboriginal art & culture in the afternoon. Both were great and interesting options but we chose the art option. Our attention was held by Binna, the artist in residence at Janbal Gallery where the art option was held, as he spoke of the history of indigenous art. He also guided us through creating our own small canvas to take home. It was an amazing experience.
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Posted On : 2022-04-19 06:33:53
Posted By : natalieliew
My mum and I had such a wonderful experience. Our guide Bridget was really knowledgeable not only just about the wet tropics but also the little things she knew about other parts of Australia too. The family we visited shared their knowledge of country with us and it was fascinating and truly enlightening. Highly recommend this experience for anyone from home or abroad who wants to learn about far north qld and what it has to offer :)
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Posted On : 2020-02-12 04:18:40
Posted By : Jill T
Great day out. We only had a couple of days in the area so this was a good way to combine the rainforest with the seaside. The rainforest obviously gets quite busy, but our guide Brigit was full of knowledge about the area which you wouldn’t get going alone. The beach combing was a really lovely way to spend the afternoon, finding out about foraging for food in the traditional way. We came from Cairns so were able to take in the spectacular scenery on the way our. A great day.
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Posted On : 2020-01-13 14:42:00
Posted By : barbara b
My adult daughter Andrea and I went on the day tour to the Daintree Rainforest Tour November 14 and we were blown away! We had an absolutely fantastic time. It was so informative, and the forest break taking. Roy, the curator of the center provided a wealth of history and we were so honored to participate in the smoking ceremony. He is a true legend
Our tour guide Bridget was A-MAZ-ING! She was so personable, approachable and knowledge and answered all our questions big or small. Our minds were blown with all the information she gave us as we walked through the rainforest. What a gem you have in her!
I don’t know if I have enough superlatives to describe our experience. For me it was the best part of our 12 day Australian trip. Great tour! Great employees!
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Posted On : 2019-11-18 13:11:25
Posted By : mothrunit
I had read many reviews about this tour and knew that we would enjoy it. But boy were we surprised! What an awesome experience and one that should not be missed. Guides Bridget, Keenan and Ryan provided us with a day that will surely not be forgotten.
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Posted On : 2019-09-26 05:53:51
Posted By : kaenhu
I want to support everything aboriginal that I can so I feel a little bad giving this just a so-so review. Hopefully, my review can be used to improve this experience.
So the drive up to Port Douglas was nice and scenic. We had some good photo ops in Port Douglas, including one with the 4 mile beach. We got to the Daintree Visitor Center and were received by Skip, our first aboriginal guide, who talked a little bit about the smoking ceremony and showed us a few things with paints and sassafras. This was pretty interesting and cool but really short. We had a brief walk in the rainforest, but not with our aboriginal guide. When we got to the Mossman Gorge, we were told that the Visitor Center and authorities of the Daintree Rainforest National Park strongly discouraged people from swimming the gorge. Too many fatalities in the past. This was pretty disappointing. They didn’t even want us to wade in the water. So after hanging around for a bit, we had lunch in the Cafe and had some time to shop. Then we were taken to Cooya Beach where we met Ryan, our second aboriginal guide. Ryan had spears for us and spent a few minutes showing us how to throw them. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon—at least an hour or so—walking around the beach at low tide, “hunting and gathering” bush tucker for our meal. Obviously none of us could find anything though Ryan finally found a sole fish. Then we walked back to Ryan’s home, where his family made a meal fo us while we sat out on his porch. We got to meet some of his family and ate some snails and crab cooked in a delicious broth, and the sole fish marinated in some sauce and tomatoes. His uncle showed us his music room and we messed around on his keyboard.
The positives are that our non-aboriginal guide and driver, Andrew, was excellent. He had a lot of information and was super diplomatic and conversational. We really enjoyed chatting with him, even after his microphone malfunctioned. I was glad he let me sit up front with him so I could talk to him without having to take off my seat belt and lean forward. The Daintree Rainforest is amazing and the Visitor center is wonderful—I loved that it was 100% owned and operated by aborigines. It was also nice to meet Ryan’s family and have some eats.
The things that should be improved: why not have Skip tell us more about other aboriginal rituals and customs? Why not have him give us the tour through the rainforest? Show us things that aborigines used to do and how they used to live. Tell us about some of the issues they face and how they are working towards resolving those issues. If this is to be a cultural experience, show us some culture. This was just too short to be a true cultural experience.
I think walking around the beach with Ryan for over an hour was a waste of time. It is obvious none of the tourists can really hunt and gather. Show us how to throw a spear, let us practice that for a bit, show us a few things on the beach, and then take us back to the house to talk to the family and share a meal or snacks (from the beach) with the family. Or something else that is cultural. I don’t know enough about their culture to even suggest something but I think an extra activity needs to be added here.
Lastly, since this activity is mostly for tourists, I think it would be good to advise the aboriginal guides and staff that if they are okay with photos to let the tourists know. I wanted to be respectful to them and the culture so I did not even ask to photograph and they did not offer, but I later found out that a lot of them are fine with the idea since they know it comes with the tourist industry.
All in all, I felt that this experience could really be improved with more information and education about the aborigines, the rainforest and any ecological issues, and more hands on activities.
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Posted On : 2019-08-03 08:43:39
Posted By : nickdm2019
Our guide was very knowledgeable and gave wonderful descriptions of how the different language groups between Cairns and the Mossman Gorge interacted as we drove through each area on the bus.
The walks through the rainforest and mangroves gave us some idea of how the people in the area found food and were able to live and trade. We were able to sample some of the periwinkles, mud crab and crayfish that we found while learning about the artefacts that were created and traded by the indigenous people.
Bring an open mind and you'll enjoy the experience.
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Posted On : 2019-05-18 22:04:21
