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On Safari in Australia

For Alberto and June Vale, owners of Cairns-based Wildscapes Safaris , ecotourism isn't just about showing the natural attractions of the Tropical North of Queensland to visitors.

The tour company has already won many awards for its high quality service, and Mr Vale has also developed and implemented a major research study into platypuses in the region.

"It is important that Australians and visitors to our country appreciate the priceless wealth of our wildlife and their unique environment," Mr Vale said.

Wildscapes Safaris offers day tours to secluded platypus habitat where visitors can observe and photograph this unique animal in the wild, as well

as night tours through the Tropical North Queensland rainforests.

When he is not interpreting the Tropical North Queensland environment for visitors, Mr Vale collects information on the behavior of the platypus during the region's wet season.

"This behaviour has been poorly understood by researchers and our data will serve as a baseline overview of the species here in the tropics," he said. "The research not only gives us a greater understanding of this living fossil , but will also enhance current land management projects that could impact on platypus habitat and breeding grounds.

"We've also been generating interest among

school students through our environmental activities, hopefully encouraging them into tertiary studies."

The research is solely funded by Wildscapes Safaris. Mr Vale is assisted by Dr Tom Grant, an expert in platypus field studies from the University of New South Wales.

In 1997 Wildscapes Safaris became one of the first businesses to receive Advanced Ecotourism Accreditation under the Nature and Ecotourism Accreditation Program (NEAP). More recently it won the 2001 Tropical North Queensland Environmental Tourism award and was the 1999 winner of the Tour and Transport Operators category of the Queensland Tourism Awards.

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