Grey-Headed Flying Foxes and the Secret Camp No Other Tour Will Show You

If you’ve never locked eyes with a grey-headed flying fox while it hangs upside down and fans itself like it’s trying to beat the Aussie heat, you’re missing out on one of Australia’s wildest characters.

Tucked away from the crowds, behind a curtain of paperbarks and cicada hum, there’s a patch of sky that - at first glance - looks like it’s full of hanging fruit. But take a few steps closer, and you’ll realise that fruit is twitching, squabbling, and upside-down… because it’s very much alive.

It’s home to one of Australia’s most misunderstood mammals - the grey-headed flying fox. They’re not in the guidebooks. And they’re definitely not on anyone else’s tour. (Trust me, they’ve tried to copy mine - but they don’t know about this spot.)

These aren’t your average bats. They’re puppy-faced nectar junkies with three-foot wingspans and a taste for native flowers, rainforest fruits, and the occasional fig you were hoping would ripen. And far from being pests, they’re actually keystone pollinators - vital to the survival of over 100 native species of trees and vines. In fact, they’re better long-distance pollinators than bees.

Flying Fox Families

Between March and May, the boys get romantic - it can get very heated and erotic up there. And by October, babies start turning up—just one pup per year, born while mum’s still hanging from a branch. For the first few weeks, the little one clings to her belly like a marsupial backpack, and later gets left at the roost creche while mum pops out for nectar and pollen. With a bit of luck, these flying furballs can live 15 to 20 years in the wild.

But life’s not all bottlebrush and blossom.

Under Pressure

Grey-headed flying foxes face all sorts of human-induced drama. Habitat loss, thanks to bulldozers and development. Powerlines, which are basically tripwires in the sky. And then there are heat stress events—those brutal summer days where hundreds, sometimes thousands, fall from the trees. It’s as tragic as it is avoidable.

They’re also misunderstood. In some fruit-growing regions, they’re treated like thieves. But the reality is, they give back far more than they take—flying dozens of kilometres each night, spreading seeds, and pollinating forests while we’re all fast asleep.

Meet Them on Your Tour

We visit them on my Nature and Wildlife: Australia in One Day tour—just me, you, and a secret colony of these upside-down locals hanging out like it’s Friday night in the beer garden. They squabble. They smooch. They screech. It’s noisy, smelly, slightly chaotic—and completely unforgettable.

Huge thanks to Ryan, one of my tour guests, for this stunning shot of our grey-headed flying fox locals—bringing the secret spot to life better than words ever could.

You won’t find this spot on Google Maps. And unless you’re coming with me, you won’t find it at all.

But if you do... you’ll never look at the bush - or bats - the same way again.

Just don’t tell the tour copycats.