Cape Tribulation Beach deadliest in the world?

YOU MUST BE JOKING

Paul Makin

Journalist

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Cape Tribulation beach - a dangerous beach? Picture: Submitted

I’m giggling away as I write this story. Initially I thought it was a joke. But we’re past way April 1st so it can’t be that. Ok this is how an international report was dished up to travel writers and tourists about a beautiful place in Douglas Shire north.

“Lethal jellyfish, venomous snakes, Crocodiles, and potentially deadly Cassowaries has earned Cape Tribulation the surprising No. 1 ranking on a list of the world’s most dangerous beaches”. The survey was done by weather.com, owned by a huge tech giant.

The report says quote “Cape Tribulation has a name that may serve as a warning for many travellers especially with Cassowaries, noting that when provoked, Cassowaries can be aggressive and capable of inflicting injuries”.

Now you can laugh

Really? Cape Tribulation No 1 on the world’s most dangerous places list? Cue the laughter! In fact, the last known fatal Cassowary attack was in Florida in the U.S when a man who reared the birds died in hospital from severe injuries in 2019. In this silly survey Cape Tribulation came in ahead of a beach in Hawaii, which has rip currents that have claimed the lives of between 30 and 80 people.

Cape Tribulation even beat Gansbaai, known as the Great White Shark capital of the world where some 1500 sharks are attracted by a colony of 60,000 seals living in ‘shark alley’. If you really want to guffaw, Cape Tribulation also edged out the Amazon River beaches for the top spot, where there are deadly flesh-eating Piranhas, Anacondas and Electric eels. Ouch!

Who is weather.com?

 

So, who is this company coming up with these overzealous reviews about Cape Tribulation? Weather.com is operated by The Weather Company, a weather forecasting and information technology company. The Weather Company has been a subsidiary of the Watson & Cloud Platform business unit of IBM since 2016. They in turn help supply information to the ‘Weather Channel’ an American pay television channel.

 

Mayor giggling

 

Another to see the lighter side of this misguided report is Douglas Mayor Michael Kerr who told Newsport “ How misleading is this report about Cape Tribulation, I mean if you see a Cassowary in the Daintree your extremely lucky and they do wonderful things for the ecology up there and gee Kangaroos are dangerous too  and Dingoes but I don’t see any beaches down south being singled out by reports like this one”. The mayor is right of course.

 

Sure, you wouldn’t swim in the ocean up there with the ‘salties’ ever present, but to suggest to all and sundry it’s the world’s most dangerous stretch of sand is ludicrous, so may I humbly suggest to weather.com they stick to what they know best…. WEATHER!  and leave travel and tourism advise to the experts.

 

Cassowaries are one of only a few species that can disperse large rainforest fruits and are the only long-distance dispersal agent for large-seeded fruits. Picture: Supplied
Welcome to the Amazon where they have the flesh-eating Piranha. Picture Supplied

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