Australia's 70 000-kilometre coastline is a scientist's
paradise. It offers immense coral reefs, craggy cliffs battered
by Antarctic gales, penguin rookeries and man-eating crocodiles.
And although five of every six Australians live near the shore,
much of this vast coastline remains uninhabited and virtually
unknown. There are two Australias, say marine scientists: the
one where everyone lives, and the one where nobody lives, the
four points on Australia's compass. MANY - perhaps most -
Australians have never stood in a mangrove forest. It's not hard
to see why, even though mangroves line thousands of miles of the
continent's northern and eastern coasts. Mangroves are not the
sort of place most people would choose for a casual stroll.
"Mangrove" is a generic term for what are essentially intertidal
forests - trees and shrubs that have adapted to life with their
roots awash in mud and salty or brackish water. A well-developed
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