Naomi and Jason Jansen are the owners of Whispering Waters Wildlife Sanctuary, a property situated in Feluga, Queensland. The property is a registered wildlife care and rehabilitation sanctuary with beautiful rainforest surroundings. Founded from a lifelong passion for wildlife and years of learning from incredible mentors, carers and professionals, the sanctuary provides a safe, peaceful environment where injured, orphaned and displaced native Australian wildlife can heal, recover and ultimately return to the wild where they belong. Whispering Waters Wildlife Sanctuary features off-grid living backing and consists of a home, large shed, natural forest and gardens with tropical exotics. The property also has a spring feed plunge pool, lake and creek and backs onto World Heritage Tully Gorge National Park. The owners’ future intentions are to build specialist wildlife rehabilitation enclosures, create soft-release areas for a gentle return to the wild, restore and protect native habitat, provide a safe haven for native species, educate and inspire their community about wildlife and support and collaborate with local wildlife carers.
Whispering Waters Wildlife Sanctuary spans 8.69 hectares. The property features beautiful natural forests and gardens, with an abundance of exotic tropical plants, clumping bamboo, and fruit trees. There is a small nursery building for propagating plants as well as raised vegetable gardens. The yards include a developing kauri tree avenue and fruit tree orchard areas. Some of the varieties planted include lemon, lime, Dawson plum, mandarin, orange, pomelo, lemonade, pepper and vanilla vines, dragonfruit, jackfruit, breadfruit, mulberry, japonica grape, abiu, mango, mangosteen, avocado, pawpaw, strawberry tree, five cornered fruit, black sapote, rambutan, Malay apple, Brazilian cherry, custard apple, peanut butter fruit and native macadamia nut (Macadamia integrifolia).
The property provides habitat for a diverse range of native wildlife, including macropods, flying foxes (Pteropodidae sp.), platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), microbats, bandicoots, possums, southern cassowaries (Casuarius casuarius johnsonii), owls, kingfishers, snakes, and lizards. The lake features a small jetty and is stocked with barramundi (Lates calcarifer), mangrove jack (Lutjanus argentimaculatus), sooty grunter (Hephaestus fuliginosus) and jungle perch (Kuhlia rupestris), and also supports frogs and other native fish species.
