A complete visitor guide to Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island. Find current ticket prices, opening hours, and information for seeing the sea lions.
Standing on the boardwalk above Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, I watched a sea lion pup waddle up from the beach, shake itself like a wet dog, and collapse into a hollow in the dunes. Within seconds it was snoring. Another pup surfed a wave onto the sand, flopped about ineffectually for a minute, then gave up and went to sleep as well. This isn’t a zoo or a sanctuary where animals perform on schedule. These Australian sea lions are wild, living their lives on a beach that happens to have a boardwalk through it.
Quick answer
Access to Seal Bay costs $20 for adults on the self-guided boardwalk, or $42 for the guided beach tour that takes you onto the sand among the sea lions. Children aged 4 to 15 pay $12 for the boardwalk or $23.70 for the guided tour, while kids under 4 get in free. The park opens daily at 9am with last entry at 4pm, closing at 5pm (except Christmas Day when it’s closed). The guided tour includes boardwalk access, so you see everything Seal Bay offers. Book guided tours online up to nine hours before departure, though you can often turn up and join if space is available.
At a glance
| Price | Opening hours | Address | Free for | Last entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $42 guided tour, $20 boardwalk | Daily 9am – 5pm (closed Christmas Day) | Seal Bay Road, Kangaroo Island, SA 5221 | Children under 4 | 4pm |
How much does Seal Bay cost?
Seal Bay offers two experiences: the self-guided boardwalk that keeps you elevated above the colony, or the guided beach tour that takes you down onto the sand.
| Ticket type | Price | Who qualifies |
|---|---|---|
| Guided beach tour (includes boardwalk) | $42.00 | Adults |
| Guided beach tour (concession) | $33.50 | Seniors Card, SA State Concession Card, Health Care Card, full-time Australian students, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, Pensioner Concession Card |
| Guided beach tour (child) | $23.70 | Ages 4 to 15 |
| Guided beach tour (family) | $110.00 | Two adults plus two children, or one adult plus three children |
| Self-guided boardwalk | $20.00 | Adults |
| Self-guided boardwalk (concession) | $16.00 | Same concession categories as above |
| Self-guided boardwalk (child) | $12.00 | Ages 4 to 15 |
| Self-guided boardwalk (family) | $54.00 | Two adults plus two children, or one adult plus three children |
| Children under 4 | Free | All tours |
The guided tour fee includes full boardwalk access afterward, so you’re not paying twice. I found this worth the extra $22, particularly because you can watch from different angles and the guides can explain behaviours you’d miss on your own.
The Kangaroo Island Tour Pass includes Seal Bay along with other island attractions like Flinders Chase National Park. If you’re visiting multiple parks, the pass might save money, though you’d need to calculate based on your specific itinerary.
How to explore Kangaroo Island
There are several ways to tackle Kangaroo Island, including very long day trips from Adelaide. Two day tours are less rushed and let you see more of the island. Three day tours are even more comprehensive.
Alternatively, you can take the Kangaroo Island ferry from Cape Jervis. Once on the island, you can self drive (if you’ve brought your car), or take one of several tours. Most opt for a highlights day tour, but small group tours and Indigenous-guided tours are worth considering for a more distinctive experience.
You can also swim with dolphins, try a guided koala walk, go quad biking and take a half day tasting tour around food producers and distilleries.
Is Seal Bay free to enter?
No. This is a conservation park with an endangered species breeding colony, and all entry requires payment. The fees fund ongoing research, habitat protection, and the ranger program that ensures human visitors don’t disturb the sea lions.
The visitor information centre has displays about Australian sea lion biology and conservation that you can view without paying, though they’re visible from the entrance area and aren’t extensive. To access the boardwalk or beach, you need a ticket.
Children under 4 enter free on both the boardwalk and guided tours. Beyond that, there’s no free entry period or discount days.
What time does Seal Bay open?
Seal Bay maintains consistent hours year-round, though the guided tour schedule adjusts seasonally.
All year: 9am to 5pm daily (last entry 4pm)
Closed: Christmas Day (25 December)
Guided beach tours run approximately every 45 minutes to an hour throughout the day. In summer (December to March), tours typically run from 9:15am until the last tour at 4pm. In winter (June to August), fewer tours operate and times vary. Check the booking page for current schedules.
The boardwalk is self-paced and can be done any time during opening hours. Budget 30 minutes to walk the 900-metre return route properly, though you could spend longer if sea lions are visible in the dunes or on the beach below.
Guided tours are subject to minimum participant numbers and can be cancelled due to extreme weather. Strong winds, particularly in winter, sometimes close beach access for safety. The boardwalk usually remains open unless conditions are truly dangerous.
Summer weekends and school holiday periods see larger groups and potentially wait times if tours fill up.
Do I need to book Seal Bay tickets in advance?
For the guided beach tour, yes. You can book online up to nine hours before tour departure through the Parks SA website. During peak season (December to February) and school holidays, tours can fill, so advance booking guarantees your spot.
That said, the rangers often accommodate walk-ups if space is available. I didn’t book ahead and joined the next available tour without issue. But if you’re on a tight schedule or visiting during busy periods, don’t risk it.
The self-guided boardwalk doesn’t require advance booking. Pay at the visitor centre when you arrive and walk out whenever you’re ready.
An endangered colony in an unlikely spot
Australian sea lions are one of the rarest pinniped species in the world. The total population sits around 12,000 to 15,000 individuals, spread across 80 breeding colonies along Australia’s southern coast. Seal Bay hosts roughly 1,000 sea lions, making it the third-largest colony nationally.
What makes Australian sea lions unusual is their breeding cycle. Most seal species breed annually, synchronising births across the colony. Australian sea lions breed every 18 months on a schedule unique to each colony. Seal Bay’s breeding cycle means you might see newborn pups any time of year, alongside juveniles and adults.
Female sea lions are incredibly faithful to their birth colony. They return to the same beach where they were born to breed throughout their lives, typically 17 to 20 years. Males are slightly more mobile but still show strong site fidelity. This means colonies don’t mix much, and each develops as a genetically distinct population. If a breeding colony disappears, it’s essentially gone forever.
Seal Bay’s sea lions were nearly gone forever. During the 19th century, sealers hunted Australian sea lions relentlessly for their fur, leather, and oil. The species was commercially extinct by the 1830s. Small populations survived in remote locations, including Seal Bay, which was too isolated and the terrain too difficult for systematic hunting.
By the time scientific interest in Australian sea lions began in the mid-20th century, the Seal Bay colony was thriving relative to other populations. In 1954, the area became a conservation park specifically to protect the breeding colony. Tourism started shortly after, initially allowing visitors to walk freely among the sea lions. This proved disastrous for breeding success, as human presence stressed females and caused pup abandonment.
In 1972, Seal Bay implemented the guided tour system. Beach access became restricted to ranger-led groups that maintain safe distances (at least 10 metres from any sea lion) and avoid areas where mothers are nursing pups. The boardwalk, opened in the 1980s and rebuilt multiple times since, allows independent viewing while keeping people elevated above the colony.
The management approach works. Seal Bay’s population has remained stable for decades, which sounds underwhelming until you realise most Australian sea lion colonies are declining. The species is still classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Research conducted at Seal Bay contributes to understanding Australian sea lion biology. Individual animals are tagged and monitored throughout their lives. GPS tracking reveals feeding patterns: females typically forage for three days at a time, travelling up to 100 kilometres offshore to hunt rock lobsters, octopus, small rays, and sharks on the ocean floor. Then they return to beach for three to four days to rest and nurse pups before heading out again.
Walking among wild sea lions (carefully)
The guided beach tour is what most people come for. A ranger leads groups of up to 20 people down a restricted boardwalk that the public can’t access independently, onto the beach, and through the dunes where sea lions shelter.
The tour takes 45 minutes. Where you walk depends entirely on where the sea lions happen to be that day. Rangers scout ahead and adjust routes to avoid disturbing nursing mothers or territorial males. You might see five sea lions or fifty. Nothing is guaranteed because these are wild animals following their own schedules.
What struck me most was how completely unbothered they are by humans. A female lounging in the dune grass 15 metres from our group didn’t even open her eyes. A juvenile rolled over, scratched itself, and went back to sleep. Occasionally, if you get too close or move too quickly, a sea lion will lift its head and bark, which means back off. The rangers watch constantly for these warning signs.
You learn to distinguish males from females. Males can weigh up to 350 kilograms and sport blonde manes around their necks (hence “sea lions”). Females are smaller, around 100 kilograms, and grey. Males are rare on the beach during the day as they spend more time at sea or patrolling territories.
Pups are everywhere. Tiny black bundles when newly born (sea lions give birth to a single pup per breeding cycle), they lighten to brown as they age. Pups are uncoordinated on land, waddling awkwardly and frequently face-planting into the sand. In the water, they transform into graceful swimmers, surfing waves and playing in rock pools.
The ranger explains Australian sea lion peculiarities. Unlike New Zealand fur seals (which you’ll see at Admirals Arch in Flinders Chase National Park), Australian sea lions are “eared seals.” They have external ear flaps and can rotate their hind flippers forward, allowing them to waddle. Fur seals lack external ears and drag themselves on land using their front flippers only.
Australian sea lions are also unusually non-migratory. They stay within a relatively small home range their entire lives, rarely travelling more than 100 kilometres from their birth colony. This site fidelity makes them vulnerable to localised threats like marine pollution, fishing net entanglement, and habitat disturbance.
After the beach section, you’re free to explore the boardwalk independently, which is included in your guided tour ticket. The 900-metre return boardwalk winds through dunes and mallee scrub to several viewing platforms. From above, you spot sea lions you’d miss at ground level: pups tucked into hollows in the dunes, juveniles resting in the shade of bushes, adults sprawled across the sand.
Information panels along the boardwalk cover sea lion biology, breeding cycles, threats, and conservation efforts. The content overlaps significantly with what the ranger tells you on the beach tour, but having it written down helps if you’ve forgotten details.
If you skip the guided tour
The self-guided boardwalk experience costs $20 and gets you the same elevated viewing without beach access. You’ll see sea lions from the platforms, sometimes quite close if they’re resting in the dunes near the boardwalk. But you miss the ranger’s knowledge and the intimacy of being at eye level with a 100-kilogram carnivore.
The boardwalk is fully wheelchair accessible with a gentle grade. It’s well-maintained timber and compacted gravel, suitable for prams and mobility aids. There are no steps, though the return distance of 900 metres might challenge some visitors.
Sea lions don’t follow a schedule. Sometimes dozens lounge on the beach in clear view from the boardwalk. Other times, most are out fishing and you’ll see only a few. Early morning and late afternoon tend to be better for sightings, as sea lions often return from foraging trips during these periods and rest on the beach before moving into the dunes.
In winter (June to August), sea lions favour the dunes over the beach because the sand dunes provide shelter from wind. This means you might see more animals from the boardwalk in winter than summer, though they’re often tucked into vegetation and harder to spot.
The viewing platforms overlook a shallow reef where pups play in rock pools. Watching juvenile sea lions learn to swim, body-surfing small waves and chasing each other through the water, rivals anything you’ll see on the beach tour.
What’s included with your ticket
Guided beach tour includes:
- 45-minute ranger-led walk through the sea lion colony
- Beach and dune access via restricted boardwalk
- Expert commentary on sea lion behaviour, biology, and conservation
- Close viewing of wild Australian sea lions (10+ metres distance maintained)
- Full boardwalk access after the tour
- Viewing platforms and interpretive signage
Self-guided boardwalk includes:
- 900-metre return elevated boardwalk through dunes
- Multiple viewing platforms overlooking beach and colony
- Interpretive signage about sea lion biology and conservation
- Self-paced exploration during opening hours (last entry 4pm)
Visitor information centre (free):
- Basic displays about Australian sea lions
- Booking assistance for tours
- Restroom facilities
Not included:
- Photography permits (personal photography allowed free, commercial filming requires advance permits)
- Food or drink (none available for purchase).
Things to do near Seal Bay
Flinders Chase National Park (78 kilometres west, 1 hour 10 minute drive) – The western end of Kangaroo Island features the Remarkable Rocks and Admirals Arch. The Remarkable Rocks are massive granite boulders weathered into surreal shapes, covered in orange lichen, perched on a clifftop 75 metres above the Southern Ocean. Admirals Arch is a naturally carved rock bridge with a colony of New Zealand fur seals visible from the boardwalk. Note that Flinders Chase experienced significant bushfire damage in 2019-20 but has largely recovered.
Little Sahara (25 kilometres northwest, 25-minute drive) – Massive sand dunes rising from the surrounding scrub. The white dunes look completely out of place on Kangaroo Island’s heavily vegetated landscape. Sandboards are available for rent from operators in Vivonne Bay. The dunes cover several square kilometres and make for excellent photos, particularly at sunset.
Vivonne Bay (17 kilometres west, 20-minute drive) – Regularly named one of Australia’s best beaches, this 5-kilometre stretch of white sand curves around a protected bay. Swimming is excellent, the water is clear, and it’s rarely crowded. The Vivonne Bay General Store sells supplies, basic meals, and their famous whiting burger.
Kelly Hill Caves Conservation Park (32 kilometres west, 40-minute drive) – Limestone cave system with guided tours showing underground chambers, stalactites, and rock formations. The cave was discovered in the 1880s when a horse named Kelly fell through a sinkhole. Tours run several times daily and take about an hour. Above ground, bushwalks through native vegetation.
Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary (62 kilometres west, 1 hour drive) – Private wildlife reserve where koala sightings are guaranteed. The sanctuary was heavily impacted by the 2019-20 bushfires but has reopened with guided tours showing bushland recovery. Koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, and echidnas regularly spotted. Access by guided tour only.
Practical tips
Location: Seal Bay Road, Kangaroo Island, SA 5221. On the south coast, 45 minutes’ drive from Kingscote (the island’s main town).
Getting there: No public transport serves Seal Bay. You need a hire car. From Kingscote, drive south on Playford Highway, then turn onto Seal Bay Road (well signposted). The road is sealed all the way. Free parking at the visitor centre.
Time needed: 45 minutes for the guided tour, plus 30 minutes for the boardwalk afterward. Budget 1.5 hours total. The boardwalk alone takes 30 to 45 minutes.
Photography: Personal photography allowed throughout without restriction. Long lens useful for close-ups from the boardwalk or beach (guides don’t let you approach closer than 10 metres). The lighting on the beach can be harsh midday, better early morning or late afternoon. Commercial filming requires advance permits from Parks SA.
Dress code: None, but practical clothing recommended. The beach is sandy and the boardwalk is exposed to wind. Sturdy shoes (not flip-flops) for the guided tour, as you’ll be walking on sand and potentially uneven dune surfaces. Hat and sunscreen essential, there’s minimal shade.
Accessibility: The boardwalk is fully wheelchair accessible with gentle grades and no steps. The guided beach tour is not suitable for wheelchairs or people with significant mobility limitations, as it involves walking on sand and uneven dunes with some steep sections.
Crowds: Busiest during summer school holidays (December to January) and Easter. Weekends see more visitors than weekdays. Winter (June to August) is quietest. Tour group sizes can reach 20 people but average 8 to 12 outside peak season.
Weather considerations: Tours run in most conditions except extreme wind or dangerous seas. Winter can be cold and windy, bring layers. Summer is hot with limited shade. Check weather forecasts before travelling, as Kangaroo Island’s south coast gets rough conditions.
Facilities: Restrooms at visitor centre. No food or drink available for purchase. Bring water, particularly in summer. No cafe, restaurant, or shop. Nearest supplies in Kingscote (45 minutes) or Vivonne Bay (20 minutes).
Wildlife safety: Maintain the 10-metre distance the rangers require. Australian sea lions are wild, protected, and potentially dangerous. Bulls (males) can be territorial and aggressive. Mothers with pups may charge if they feel threatened. Never attempt to touch, feed, or closely approach any sea lion.
Mobile phone coverage: Limited and unreliable. Telstra has patchy coverage near the visitor centre, other networks are mostly unavailable. Don’t rely on your phone for navigation or emergencies. Download maps offline before visiting.
FAQs
What’s the difference between the boardwalk and the guided tour? The boardwalk keeps you elevated above the colony with viewing from platforms. You see sea lions from a distance (sometimes quite close if they’re in the dunes). The guided tour takes you onto the beach at eye level, walking among the colony with a ranger who explains behaviours and ensures you don’t disturb the animals. The guided tour includes boardwalk access afterward.
How close do you get to the sea lions? On the guided tour, you maintain at least 10 metres from any sea lion. Sometimes they’re closer because they move toward you (you don’t move toward them). From the boardwalk, distance varies depending on where sea lions happen to be, anywhere from 5 metres to 50+ metres.
Are sea lion sightings guaranteed? No, these are wild animals. However, I’ve never heard of anyone visiting Seal Bay and seeing zero sea lions. The colony is resident year-round and typically has 100+ individuals on or near the beach at any given time. Some days you’ll see dozens, other days fewer.
When is the best time to visit? Year-round works. Summer (December to February) has longer daylight and warmer weather but more tourists. Winter (June to August) sees sea lions favouring the dunes for shelter, so boardwalk viewing can be excellent. Spring and autumn offer moderate weather and fewer crowds. Avoid visiting during heavy rain or strong wind if possible.
Can children go on the guided tour? Yes, all ages are welcome (children under 4 are free). The tour involves 45 minutes of walking on sand and dunes, which might challenge very young children. Rangers are experienced with families and adjust pace accordingly. Kids generally love seeing the pups.
What’s the difference between Australian sea lions and fur seals? Australian sea lions have external ear flaps, can rotate their hind flippers forward (allowing them to waddle), and are endemic to southern Australia. Males have blonde manes. New Zealand fur seals lack external ears, drag themselves on land using only front flippers, and are found across southern Australia and New Zealand. You’ll see fur seals at Admirals Arch in Flinders Chase National Park.
How many sea lions live at Seal Bay? Approximately 1,000 individuals make up the Seal Bay colony, though not all are present simultaneously. Females spend roughly half their time at sea hunting, while males patrol territories or forage. At any given time, 100 to 300 sea lions might be on the beach or in the dunes.
More South Australia travel
Other South Australia travel stories on Planet Whitley include:
- Swimming with sea lions in Baird Bay.
- Why you should book a Coorong kayaking cruise.
- In search of seafood on the Eyre Peninsula.
- Why I enjoyed the drive across the Nullarbor.
- Guide to Wilpena Pound for first time visitors.
