Almost finished a trip with Klaus Uhlenhut from Mt Isa to the Gulf. Conditions
are dreadful. The area did not have a wet season and everything is parched.
There is no water in the Leichardt or Cloncurry Rivers and most creeks are dry.
Mr Isa's water supply is down to 30% I've been told by locals. We have only
seen a few cane toads, mostly at Adels Grove. No other amphibians, reptiles or
mammals and very few insects. The birding has been very hard and we have been
unable to find even a welcome swallow. Feral cats are everywhere. Much of the
land has been burnt and what is left has been eaten by cattle that did not go
to Indonesia as pastoralists had planned.
As an ecologist, it is a shocking sight to see tree skeletons everywhere and
little habitat left for anything to survive.
Chris Melrose
Christine Melrose
0407705140
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