Daintree Walks & Hiking Trails

Daintree Tourism  

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Daintree Walks for you to enjoy on your visit  to Cairns & Tropical North Queensland and the Daintree National Park. Some are free, some are guided and some are on mobile phone apps.
Mossman Gorge is in the Daintree National Park and is now on Australian Short Walks App. Other walks that are on the app are Port Douglas Coastcare Walk, Port Douglas Historic Walk, Daintree Historic Walk, Mossman Historic Walk and Cairns CBD Heritage Walk. See: www.portdouglas.daintree.info
Author Chris Dahlberg

Check where to stay in Daintree:
WONGA BEACH WALK has a beautiful lush back drop of huge Calophyllum trees interspersed with Coconut palms. In 1770 Captain Cook named the continental Island Snapper Island and the near-by coral cays Low Isles. A 30 mile light house was installed on the smaller cay in 1898. Looking south from Wonga Beach you can see Island Point which shelters the harbour entrance of Port Douglas.
The two mountain ranges and Wonga Beach form the boundaries of the triangular Daintree Valley and could rightfully earn Wonga Beach the title Daintree Beach. The Daintree River, Wonga Beach and the beach end of Alexandra Range form a natural funnel when the prevailing south-east trade winds are taken into account and explain why there are so many different species of mangroves in the Daintree. Mangrove seeds float and are taken along the surface of the water by wind and currents. They collect in the Daintree River estuary and along Wonga Beach because of this natural funnel effect.  Beachcombing along Wonga has it's rewards with these seeds and other flotsam which includes pumice originating in the subterranean volcanoes of the Pacific Ocean. Behind the coastal vegetation is an extra-ordinary array of architecture. From the quaint owner built holiday and fishing shacks of the 1930's to the newer multi million dollar homes.

MOSSMAN  GORGE Is the closest Daintree National Park walk to Port Douglas. It is in Mossman on the way to Daintree Village and Cape Tribulation, turn left at the first street after Woolworths, which is "Johnston Street"  and follow it to the Mossman Gorge Visitors Centre where you can park. There is a shuttle bus ($6 Ad, $3 Ch, $15 2A+2C) to take you to the old carpark at the Gorge or you can walk.
When you get there, there is a short walk along the Mossman River where there are picnic tables and toilets.
(A lot of people swim from here and the water is cold.  In the wet season it is dangerous to swim here because the current is too strong and you could get washed away.)
There is short loop track with interpretive signage and some good lookouts over the gorge itself.
There is a real rainforest walk after the bridge and a stunning lookout just a short way into the trip. It would be hard not to have some sort of spiritual experience as you look out from Manjal Dimbi Lookout. To do the loop takes about an hour and it is wise to stay on the main track.
You will encounter the Australian Brush Turkey on the way around.
This is not a real turkey, it is a megapod and is the rainforest gardener. You will hear some of the rainforest birds but they will be difficult to see. Listen out for the tenor voice of the Wompoo Fruit-Dove (Wallock-A-Woo) and the scratchy call of the Spotted Catbird.

DAINTREE VILLAGE NATURAL WALK.  Reached from Pioneers Park in the village, walk up past the water treatment plant (steep).
"The forest along the ridge overlooking the river and the Daintree Village is described as being in a successional stage. It is a forest undergoing changes in its specie types as one specie prepares the way for and is replaced by others until a stable state is reached. It can be guessed that this hillside was exposed to occasional cyclonic winds and frequent fires over many centuries, until quite recently when only two small fires have been seen in 20 years, one in 2003. Under such conditions the vegetation will have been an open woodland dominated by eucalypt (gum) trees with wattles (acacias) and sheoak (Allocasuarinas ) as sub canopy trees above an under story of Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra) and Bladey Grass (Imperata cylindrical ). In places of high rainfall such as the Daintree region a reduction in the frequency of fires allows several species of rainforest trees to arrive as "pioneers" which begin to colonise the understory. If freedom from fire and big blows persist for a few decades the plants of the understory will produce enough shade and damp to prevent eucalypt seeds and seeds of most other open forest species from producing healthy seedlings. In time the eucalypts and most of the wattle species will die out and be succeeded by a good range of rainforest species. This is the derivation of the term successional stage". Rupert Russell

MANJAL JIMALJI TRAIL.   Manjal Jimalji trail is not your normal stroll in the park. It requires fitness, experience and planning. Heed the warnings in the pdf's below.
 
Here are 3 PDF's that may help planning a walk on the Manjal Jimalji Trail:
Mossman Gorge & Daintree Wilderness, Manjal Jimaliji Profile Map & Manjal Jimalji Trail Map.

This page deals with walks on the southern side of the Daintree River. The following link goes to the rest of the Daintree walks which includes Cape Tribulation.
Daintree and Cape Tribulation Walks >
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