Yanac Swamp Wildlife Reserve

Rishabh Mishra

Visited with high expectation set by the eloquently poetic description on the Parks Victoria Website, safe to say I was let down. Where I was promised a 'sprawling vista of unequaled beauty' I didn't expect a muddy hole in the ground with a entombed dead fox. When I read that 'visitors can abandon themselves to the primeval ambiances of the wetlands', I was hoping for a little more than a croaking toad in a shallow pondage. I could deal with these misgivings from Parks Victoria, however the closing remark in their advertising pitch was a real kick in the guts. The copy promised "a journey of contrasts; magnificent wilderness- big and small, incredible biodiversity- rich and diverse, and an unimaginable symphony of colours". They couldn't have been more deceitful. The closest to wilderness witnessed here was an Indian myna picking at the carcass of a dead bush rat. The most biodiversity I saw was the inter connectivity between the various amphibious noxious weeds. And the colour palate of the reserve ranged from an oil slick green, to a soviet-era-metropolis grey. Very disappointed with my 3 night stay here, won't be making the same mistake again. 4 stars.

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