Narrandera Koala Count 2024

Join in and go koala spotting on Saturday 21 September.  Commencing at the Muster Point from 9.30am with a briefing, participants will be divided into 12 teams.  Each team will walk to a designated spot in the Reserve and search for koalas, recording the details of each sighting. 

In 2023 participants in the Count were from a range of locations in NSW, as well as some from as far as Queensland and Victoria. While people of all ages participated, it was the many children involved who showed most excitement and reported that they could have kept spotting all day.

The primary objectives of the Count were met – monitoring the progress of the Koala colony and engaging with the public to provide education on the first ever conservational translocation of Koalas and what can be done to help them thrive.

The Narrandera Koala Count is one of the longest running citizen science monitoring programs in Australia. The committed people who assisted in establishing the relocated colony in the 1970’s are owed a debt of gratitude as their efforts were the foundation of the ongoing success of the project and the continued expansion of the colony.

Those project pioneers and Narrandera Shire were 50 years ahead of their time in koala conservation efforts, with only 19 koalas in the initial relocation.

Work continues in monitoring the growth of the colony with the ongoing support of volunteers, academic researchers and the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service. A heat seeking drone survey has been conducted on either side of the river covering the Narrandera Koala Regeneration Area and Flora & Fauna Reserve, as well as adjacent farms along the Murrumbidgee to Yanco. This survey revealed 295 koalas in the vicinity. In addition, over 70 sound meters have been installed from Collingullie to Yanco to monitor koala activity.