What's Open on Kangaroo Island in 2026An honest recovery update

Six years after the Black Summer bushfires, Kangaroo Island still gets the same question from would-be visitors: is it actually open? The honest answer is yes — and has been for a long time. This page gives the current state of the major attractions, where recovery still continues, and what to expect on the ground in 2026.

A brief, honest summary of the 2019–20 fires

Australia's 2019–20 Black Summer fires reached Kangaroo Island in late December 2019 and burnt through January 2020. Roughly half the island was affected, with the western end taking the worst of it: most of Flinders Chase National Park, the Ravine de Casoars wilderness, and large areas of Hanson Bay koala habitat. The eastern end of the island — Penneshaw, Kingscote, American River, the central food trail, Seal Bay and the Dudley Peninsula — was largely untouched.

Recovery has been remarkable. Eucalypts regenerate from epicormic buds along the trunk and from underground lignotubers, so within a couple of seasons blackened skeletons were surrounded by dense new growth. Six years on, much of the burn zone reads as a younger, denser version of itself — still scarred in places, but visibly alive.

Major attractions: 2026 status at a glance

Flinders Chase National Park today

Flinders Chase, on the island's far west, is the area most associated with the fires — and the area travellers ask about most. The park reopened progressively from 2020 onwards. Today, the iconic stops at Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch are accessible via their boardwalks, the access roads are sealed, and parking and viewing platforms are operating normally. Visitor facilities at Rocky River — including the visitor centre and some walking trails — have been progressively rebuilt rather than replaced overnight, so the official park page is the source of truth for any given trail on any given day.

The Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail

The five-day, end-to-end Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail through the western parks reopened after extensive fire-recovery and trail works. Walkers now experience a landscape that is visibly regenerating — open canopy, prolific wildflowers in spring, and abundant birdlife — quite different from the dense pre-fire bush. Bookings, campsites and any temporary closures are managed by National Parks SA; book ahead and check the current trail notes.

Wildlife recovery

The island's wildlife took a significant hit in 2019–20 and has been the focus of one of Australia's largest post-fire recovery efforts. Where things stand in 2026:

• Kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas: visibly abundant again across the island — you'll see them on most evening drives.
• Koalas: heavily impacted in the western fires; numbers along Hanson Bay and through the regrowing Flinders Chase eucalypts are recovering, and sightings are once again common rather than rare.
• Glossy black-cockatoo (Kangaroo Island subspecies): endemic to the island and one of Australia's most closely-watched threatened species. A long-running recovery program had quietly grown the population for decades before the fires set it back. The work continues, with nest boxes, feral predator control and habitat replanting across the west. Patient visitors still see them feeding in drooping she-oaks.
• Australian sea lions at Seal Bay: unaffected by the fires; the colony has continued to be one of the world's most reliable places to see them up close.

For a closer look at what to expect by season, see our Kangaroo Island wildlife guide.

Accommodation reopenings

The most-asked-about reopening is Southern Ocean Lodge, the Baillie Lodges flagship that was destroyed in the 2020 fires. After a multi-year, multi-million-dollar rebuild on its original Hanson Bay clifftop site, the lodge reopened to guests in December 2024. Across the rest of the island, the broader accommodation scene has bounced back: eco-villas, beach houses, farm stays and family-run hotels are all trading, with new stays opening each year. See our where to stay guide for current options.

The honest bottom line

Kangaroo Island in 2026 is open, recovering well, and absolutely worth the trip. The east is essentially unchanged from how it was before the fires; the west is a regenerating landscape with all its headline attractions accessible. If you've been holding off because of what you saw on the news in 2020, this is the year to plan a visit.

Frequently asked questions

Keep planning your KI trip

• Flinders Chase National Park
• Remarkable Rocks
• Admirals Arch
• Kangaroo Island wildlife guide
• Where to stay on Kangaroo Island
• Getting to Kangaroo Island from Adelaide
• Is Kangaroo Island worth visiting?