Rewilding Scotia: bilbies, numbats and the sanctuary bringing them back to the wild

A five-day journey to far western New South Wales with the team behind Australia's largest mainland feral-free sanctuary.

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May 22, 2026 6:01pm EDT

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Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary is one of Australia’s great conservation success stories.

On this immersive five-day journey to far western New South Wales, Australian Wildlife Conservancy field ecologists take you behind a 50km predator-proof fence into mallee country and salt-lake landscapes, where four nationally threatened mammals have been returned to the wild.

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Tour Highlights

Stay three nights inside Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary, a 65,000ha wildlife reserve in far western New South Wales
The chance to see wild populations of greater bilby, numbat, bridled nailtail wallaby and burrowing bettong
Travel sections of the 50km predator-proof fence with AWC field staff
Visit an active malleefowl mound and join a hands-on radio-tracking session
Spotlight for night-dwelling mammals on guided drives and walks inside the feral-free area
Walk Scotia's Playa Lake, an inland salt lake home to rare halophyte vegetation

WILDLIFE THAT VANISHED

The four mammals that returned

Scotia is the only place in Australia where greater bilbies, numbats, bridled nailtail wallabies and burrowing bettongs can be seen together in the wild, with most of these species extinct in New South Wales for more than a century.

Inside the 8000ha fenced area, one of the largest predator-free fenced areas on mainland Australia, guided spotlighting drives and nocturnal walks bring you within metres of species few will ever see.

'Scrap' the numbat is a local at Scotia

INSIDE THE FENCE

The science behind the sanctuary

The Australian Wildlife Conservancy runs nearly 7000 live-traps and 4000 transect surveys at Scotia each year. Travel sections of the 50km predator-proof fence with the field staff who built and maintain it, try your hand at radio-tracking with telemetry equipment and visit an active malleefowl mound where decades of fox control are helping a shy species recover.

AWC staff and guests using telemetry equipment in the sanctuary

NIGHT IN THE MALLEE

Spotlighting under outback skies

Scotia’s most remarkable residents reveal themselves after dark. Guided nocturnal drives through Stage 1 and walks within the feral-free area at dusk give the chance to see bilbies, bettongs and bridled nailtail wallabies in their element, with sunset drinks at Sunset Ridge and dinner beneath an unbroken sky of stars on the way.

A beaded gecko spotted while spotlighting

SALT LAKES AND ANCIENT COUNTRY

Playa Lake and the Mallee

The country itself is worth the journey. Walk Scotia's Playa Lake, a striking inland salt lake nestled among sand dunes and home to rare halophyte vegetation, including wiry glasswort, and breakfast beneathrare halophyte vegetation, including wiry glasswort, and breakfast beneath the mallee canopy while listening for striated grasswren, chestnut quail-thrush and pink cockatoo with AWC's experts.

Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary

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Australian Geographic 52-54 Turner Street Redfern, New South Wales 2016

Rewilding Scotia: bilbies, numbats and the sanctuary bringing them back to the wild

A five-day journey to far western New South Wales with the team behind Australia's largest mainland feral-free sanctuary.

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