wORDS BY THE nUMBAT wHISPERER: sEAN vAN aLPHEN

Since I was very young I have always had a passion for wildlife, especially wildlife spotting. It probably started when my parents would take me and my sister on safaris in Southern Africa. We enjoyed the challenge of finding as many animal species as possible in the amazing National Parks.
Western Australia’s mammal emblem, the numbat, always intrigued me, and when I first visited Dryandra Woodland I fell in love with the area due to the open woodland habitat and the variety of wildlife found within. It bought me back to those safari days in Africa.
Finding a numbat in the wild is a challenge I compare to finding a leopard in the African savannah. I drove through a National Park in Namibia from end to end, covering every track possible, and on day three of my 15 day journey I had two separate leopard sightings.
Fantastic!
Did I have any more leopard sightings after that? No.
That is what it is like for numbat in places like Dryandra, Boyagin and Perup. The numbat are out there and you have every chance of a sighting, but do not be disillusioned if for hours, days or maybe even a few times going to these reserves you do not have a desired result.
And so we have covered the first two important points of numbat spotting:
PATIENCE and LUCK!
Click 'read more' to see a gallery of Sean's incredible numbat photos.