Mangrove Boardwalk & Coffs Creek Estuary

Length: A loop boardwalk of 120 metres with three viewing platforms. Wheelchair accessible. 

Starts: At the Mangrove Boardwalk sign: 50 metres from the garden entrance. 

Finishes: Near the picnic area by the Coffs Creek Estuary. 

The Mangrove Boardwalk meanders through a leafy mangrove forest over mud flats to the edge of the tidal Coffs Creek Estuary where many waterbirds feed. The estuary is a part of the Solitary Islands Marine Park in a Habitat Protection zone. 

There are three viewing platforms along the boardwalk with information signs acknowledging Gumbaynggirr country, the ecology of mangrove systems and introducing the wildlife living in the estuary system. 

The Grey Mangrove (Avicennia marina var. australasica) dominates this wetland with its specialised snorkel like roots called pneumatophores pushing up into the air from the tangled roots under the mud. 

Mangrove forests skirt the botanic garden on three sides and are a part of a wider network of wetland forests along the Coffs Creek Estuary. These wetland systems are important nurseries and habitats for fish, shrimps, crabs, shellfish and many other forms of life.