The Australian boab tree is well known as one of the icons of the Kimberley. This deciduous tree is related to the baobab trees found in Madagasca and Africa, but interestingly, very little is known about the Australian boab in comparison. The boab has many traditional uses and its nut and roots make for excellent bush tucker.
Setting a camera up in three feet of crocodile infested water is neither intelligent, or easy, says Dayman. The image of this water lily, however, seems to capture the feel of the wet season after a brief afternoon shower. Like other perennial flowering aquatic herbs, this plant provided a staple source of food for traditional Aboriginal people.
This is a beautiful perentie monitor lizard in Karijini National Park, Western Australia. It is the largest monitor lizard (or goanna) in Australia and the fourth largest lizard on Earth. Typically, they are not a common sight due to their extreme shyness and the remoteness of their natural habitat.
The photographer spent nearly an hour lying prone in order to slowly sneak up and take a macro shot of this small lizard in the Simpson Desert. The tiny grains of sand seen in the top left of the image gives perspective on the lizard’s tiny size. The patterns and colours of the iris, conjunctiva and surrounding scales are spectacular.
Many insects resort to camouflage, whilst others can afford to advertise themselves more loudly. This insect actually blends into its environment very well, but on closer inspection boasts an amazing iridescent shine to its pronotum, scutellum and wing pads (outer shell).
The green covering over this saltwater crocodile owes its vibrant colour to chlorophyl, a natural pigment found in living plants, algae and some bacteria. It makes for the ultimate environmental camouflage. To perfectly blend into the natural colours of a billabong gives this reptile a further edge over its already stealthy predation tactics.
Often incorrectly confused as damselflies,dragonflies such as this one are determined by their four wings held out at right angles when at rest. (Damselflies, on the other hand, always close their two wings at rest).
Dragonflies are insect predators and play an important role in the food chain as they are themselves preyed upon by birds, lizards, frogs, fish and even spiders.
This image of forked lightning was taken beside a billabong at Marrakai in the Northern Territory and has an eery resemblance to the silhouette of the dead trees as it illuminates the evening red sky.
This storm front in the Kimberley raced north at about 60 km/h and left almost complete darkness in its wake. The ferocity of these wet-season storms can cause flash flooding and leave a passing traveller stranded for weeks on end.
An isolated rain cell approaches the Flinders Ranges in South Australia, and in the afternoon light splashes the landscape with beautiful colours.
Moonlight illuminates a scene under the clear skies of the outback, high up in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia.
A typical sunset on the Canning Stock Route. If you look carefully you will notice the sun is still quite high and orange in colour. The deep red beneath the clouds is in part a reflection of the Great Sandy Desert stretching for hundreds of kilometres to the west.
Roth’s tree frog, or the northern laughing tree frog, is a common frog native to the Top End. Frogs, as oppose to toads, are unable to leave water and so camouflage becomes particularly important for this amphibian as many predators are attracted to the same body of water.
Its colouring varies greatly and can in fact change within hours. Typically, they are grey during the bright sunlight of the day, and change to brown at night.
This tiny patch of monsoonal rainforest in the Top End offers a fantastic retreat from the surrounding hot, dry landscape. The permanent supply of fresh water drastically changes the flora and fauna attracted to these areas.
Perfect stillness as the sun sets behind a typical billabong in the Top End. During the ‘build-up’ relative humidity hovers around 70% as the landscape prepares itself for months of almost daily downpour during the wet season.