Kennett River Nature Walk Visitation Data
For anyone following the visitation numbers on the Kennett River Nature Walk, and visitation continuing into the back of our community we would like to share an update…
Kennett Community Action Group members recorded counter readings every Monday from 15 December 2025 to 26 January 2026.
Over this seven-week data collection period — which included two catastrophic fire evacuation days and a flash flooding event — the recorded figures were:
Nature Walk visitors: 20,980
Visitors continuing past the easement counter into the back of our community, which included residential streets this summer: 17,753
The implementation of temporary infrastructure changes within the precinct (as outlined in the proposal KCAG submitted to Council) resulted in very few large buses entering Kennett River during that time. Parking constraints, combined with less reliable koala sightings have made the location less attractive for large tour buses.
In their place, however, has been a surge in self-driving visitors, increasing the spread and unpredictability of visitor movement throughout our hamlet. For comparison, during an almost identical seven-week data collection period the previous year (14 December 2024 to 24 January 2025) visitation was significantly lower:
Nature Walk visitors: 13,756
Visitors continuing past the easement counter into the back of our community: 12,450
KCAG’s data aligns with independent monitoring by GORCAPA, of the two counters installed at our request on the 13th of June 2024, following a wildlife welfare incident where kangaroos were chased and cornered by visitors seeking photos.
While there has been a marked reduction in inappropriate wildlife interactions—driven by our community-led Keep the Wildlife Wild education campaign, alongside the establishment of wildlife protection zones and revegetation sites supported by the Colac Otway Shire and the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority—tourists continue to trespass onto private properties in search of close encounters. This ongoing issue poses safety and amenity concerns for residents, and heavily impacts families who rely on Airbnb income.
In 20 months, the Nature Walk has hosted more than 100,000 people.
These growing visitation numbers are unsustainable and not appropriate for a small hamlet, such as ours. It is anticipated that the visitation numbers will increase exponentially as tourism grows on the Great Ocean Road with estimated projections of 6.6 million tourists a year in our region.
Tourism is altering the foraging behaviour of the local mob along the Kennett River Nature Walk—an ancient and vital foraging corridor relied upon instinctively over generations. Once commonly seen feeding at dawn or in the early afternoon, kangaroos are now delaying their foraging until nightfall to avoid constant disturbance from high visitor numbers. These corridors are not random; they are critical pathways for feeding, movement, and safety. When disrupted, they can force significant behavioural changes—something locals are clearly witnessing as human pressure on this habitat continues to grow.
Within a 6-month period - October 2025 to March 2026, the Kennett River Nature Walk’s Google profile has received 31,000 views, 9,900 interactions and 15,000 searches.
Koalas in Victoria generally breed from September to January, increasing their ground activity to find mates and territories. However, constant visitor traffic from dawn until dusk now disrupts these movements.
The impact is evident: only one joey has been reported in three years, and the characteristic mating ‘bellows’ of males are rarely heard anymore by locals. Google reviews about the Kennett River Nature Walk confirm this decline - once consistent five-star sightings have been replaced by reports of ‘a lone koala’ or ‘nothing much to see’.
The internet reviews and on-ground data being collected and reviewed offers valuable insight - what was once a reliable wildlife-viewing location now shows signs of ecological decline, reflected both in on-ground observations and visitor reviews.
KCAG is continuing our research-driven advocacy work with multiple agencies, calling for controlled visitation times to provide much-needed respite— in response to advice from Melbourne University native mammal behaviour expert, Professor Graeme Coulson, who said ‘government agencies needed to control access and visitor numbers at places popular with tourists for wildlife, including Kennett River’.
