TUNNEL VISION

THIS IS FAST FOOD FOR SNAKES – about 50 kilometres per hour to be precise. At the mouth of Barker’s Cave in Undara Volcanic National Park, thousands of flying microbats whir and whiz all around us on their way out for an evening’s forage. Standing in an eerie cloud of high-speed, virtually invisible bats, we trust their aerial wizardry extends to not slamming into our faces.

The snakes are foraging, too. Barker’s Cave is their drive-through McDonald’s, except it’s the food that’s driving through. Draped on nearby branches, brown tree snakes are poised to pluck a mid-air bat snack as the ghostly gazillions