Matt Wright, born on August 29, 1979, in Australia’s Northern Territory, is an Australian television personality, helicopter pilot, wildlife relocator, and tourism entrepreneur.
He is best known internationally as the star of National Geographic’s Outback Wrangler series and Netflix’s Wild Croc Territory. In August 2025.
A jury at Darwin Supreme Court convicted him on two counts of perverting the course of justice connected to a 2022 helicopter crash, and he was released on bail pending an appeal.
Who is Matt Wright?
Matt Wright is an Australian wildlife expert, helicopter pilot, television host, and entrepreneur known for his work capturing and relocating dangerous animals across Australia’s Northern Territory and beyond. He built his career through a combination of practical outback experience and television exposure that eventually reached audiences in more than 90 countries.
He first came to wide attention through Outback Wrangler, which premiered on National Geographic in 2011 and ran for four seasons and 28 episodes. Later, in 2022, Netflix released Wild Croc Territory, a new series continuing his work with crocodile relocation and outback life.
Beyond television, Matt also operates as an award-winning tourism operator through his businesses Top End Safari Camp and Tiwi Island Retreat in the Northern Territory.
He holds a commercial helicopter pilot license and uses aerial access to reach remote areas that would otherwise be impossible to navigate on foot or by vehicle.
His approach to wildlife management centers on relocation rather than elimination.
Matt’s stated philosophy involves removing problem animals and returning them safely to more suitable habitats, a practice he has pursued in collaboration with scientists, indigenous elders, wildlife management teams, and cattle station owners.
Early Life of Matt Wright
Matt Wright grew up across multiple locations in Australia and the Pacific, spending his childhood in Papua New Guinea, Far North Queensland, and the Australian outback. His upbringing in remote environments meant that regular encounters with dangerous animals were simply part of everyday life.
By the age of ten, he had a collection of some of Australia’s most venomous creatures, including three King Brown snakes, living in his bedroom.
His parents shaped his practical relationship with the natural world. His father, Wright, worked as a wool classer, and his mother, Marie Wright, was a generational sheep farmer. Those family backgrounds put him close to the land from a very young age.
Before finding his professional calling, Matt took on a wide range of manual and skilled jobs. He worked as an outback musterer and horse wrangler, an oil rig worker, a soldier in the Australian Army, and a crocodile egg collector, building a skill set across multiple demanding environments.
His decision to train as a professional helicopter pilot came as a direct result of his wildlife work. The helicopter gave him access to the remote areas where problem animals needed managing and crocodile eggs needed collecting, and flying became as central to his career as the wildlife work itself.
Matt Wright Age
Matt Wright is 46 years old as of 2026, born on August 29, 1979. His zodiac sign is Virgo.
His television career began when National Geographic invited him to host Outback Wrangler in 2011, when he was 31. Since then, his profile has grown through multiple international series reaching over 90 countries.
Matt Wright Ethnicity and Nationality
Matt Wright is Australian by nationality, born and raised across the Northern Territory, Queensland, and Papua New Guinea. His ethnic background is White Australian.
His formative years in Papua New Guinea and outback Australia gave him a deep practical knowledge of survival, wildlife, and remote terrain that later became the foundation of his television career and tourism businesses.
Matt Wright Height and Weight
Matt Wright stands 6 feet tall, which equals 1.82 meters. His weight is approximately 85 kg, which equals about 187 lbs.
He maintains an athletic, rugged build suited to the physically demanding nature of his work. Capturing and relocating large animals such as saltwater crocodiles and wild buffalo requires considerable physical strength and stamina, and his on-screen presence reflects years of hands-on labor in remote environments.
Matt Wright Career
Matt Wright’s career path was anything but conventional. He spent years working across Australia’s outback in jobs that required endurance and practical skill before wildlife relocation became his primary profession.
His stints as a horse wrangler, oil rig worker, army soldier, and crocodile egg collector gave him the specific background that National Geographic later recognized as the basis for an international television series.
Early Career and Path to Television
Before television, Matt built his reputation through boots-on-the-ground wildlife work in the Northern Territory. He trained as a professional helicopter pilot, which transformed his capacity to work in remote locations.
Armed with aerial access, he began taking on wildlife relocation contracts across Australia’s Top End, working alongside indigenous communities and conservation authorities.
His television career began in 2011 when National Geographic’s Outback Wrangler series debuted. The show followed Matt as he captured and relocated dangerous animals including saltwater crocodiles, wild buffalo, and even polar bears during filming in Alaska.
The series ran for four seasons and 28 episodes, airing through National Geographic’s Nat Geo Wild channel, the Nine Network, and 9Go in Australia.
Outback Wrangler reached audiences in more than 90 countries and established Matt as a recognizable figure in wildlife television internationally.
The show also received recognition as a tourism asset for Australia, and Matt served as a Tourism Australia brand ambassador during his years on the series.
Wild Croc Territory and Netflix
After Outback Wrangler concluded its four-season run, Matt moved to a new series for Netflix.
Wild Croc Territory premiered on the platform in October 2022. The series continued to document his crocodile relocation work in Australia’s Northern Territory and featured his wife Kaia and son Banjo as part of the daily fabric of their life on the Top End.
The Netflix series introduced his work to a new global streaming audience.
It covered his ongoing wildlife management contracts, his helicopter operations, and the commercial crocodile egg industry in the Northern Territory, where egg collection is a licensed activity that helps manage saltwater crocodile populations while also supporting crocodile farm operations.
Matt also appeared in other wildlife and adventure programs during his career, including Save This Rhino in 2019, as well as Shark Week, Naked and Afraid: Savage, and Ed Stafford: First Man Out.
These appearances extended his profile across multiple wildlife and adventure television formats.
Tourism Business and Brand Partnerships
Alongside his television career, Matt built and operates two tourism businesses.
Top End Safari Camp offers guided wilderness experiences in Australia’s Northern Territory, including a scenic helicopter trip and overnight camping that costs approximately $1,700 for two people.
Tiwi Island Retreat offers luxury glamping accommodations on the Tiwi Islands, 80 kilometres north of Darwin, set within a marine sanctuary.
The Tiwi Island Retreat ranges from ocean-view queen rooms to luxury oceanfront tents with private swimming pools, with nightly rates reaching up to $4,000 for a couple.
Matt also holds the Wright family’s five Freshwater Retreat Airbnb apartments in Darwin. He secured brand ambassador partnerships with Great Northern Beer, Yokohama Tyres, G-Shock, Ariat, and Tourism Australia during the peak of his television career.
Following his legal charges in November 2022, Great Northern Beer ended its partnership and his image was removed from a G-Shock commercial.
Legal Proceedings
In February 2022, a helicopter crash during a crocodile egg-collecting expedition in the remote Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory killed Matt’s close friend and Outback Wrangler co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson.
Pilot Sebastian Robinson suffered serious, life-altering injuries in the same crash and is now confined to a wheelchair. The Air Transport Safety Bureau determined the helicopter ran out of fuel, causing the engine to fail.
Matt was not aboard the helicopter but arrived at the crash site soon after. In November 2022, police in Darwin charged him with seven counts, including attempting to pervert the course of justice, destroying and fabricating evidence, and interfering with witnesses.
He denied all charges and maintained his innocence throughout.
Following a month-long trial at Darwin Supreme Court, a jury convicted Matt on two counts of perverting the course of justice in August 2025. The jury found that he had lied to police about the aircraft’s fuel level and had encouraged the injured pilot to falsify flight records.
The jury could not reach a verdict on a third charge related to alleged attempts to destroy aircraft maintenance records.
Acting Justice Alan Blow released Matt on bail following the verdict. Matt said he was “pretty disappointed in the verdict” and confirmed he intends to appeal. As of 2026, his appeal is ongoing, and he has not yet faced sentencing. The prosecution did not claim he was responsible for the cause of the crash itself.
Matt Wright Wife
Matt Wright married Kaia Wright on November 10, 2017, in a ceremony in the Northern Territory. The couple had been together since around 2014 before getting engaged on November 6, 2016.
Kaia is a wildlife blogger and has appeared regularly in Matt’s social media content and in Wild Croc Territory on Netflix. She appeared alongside Matt at the Darwin Supreme Court during his August 2025 trial.
The couple currently lives on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Kaia has maintained her own presence online, particularly around the couple’s family life and their children’s connection to wildlife.
Matt Wright Children
Matt Wright and Kaia have two children together. Their son Banjo Elliott Wright was born on August 13, 2019.
Their daughter Dusty Faith Wright was born in November 2022, shortly after Matt’s initial criminal charges.
Banjo appears regularly in Matt’s social media content and has been featured in Wild Croc Territory.
Matt has shared that Banjo already shows a strong interest in wildlife, mirroring his own childhood love of animals.
Matt Wright Net Worth
Matt Wright’s estimated net worth is $4.5 million as of 2026. His income comes from television contracts with National Geographic and Netflix, his tourism businesses, brand ambassador partnerships, social media sponsorships, and crocodile egg collection operations.
Top End Safari Camp and Tiwi Island Retreat generate income from high-end tourism in the Northern Territory. The five Freshwater Retreat Airbnb apartments in Darwin, with rates of up to $4,000 for a two-night minimum stay, add a further real estate income stream to his portfolio.
His YouTube channel, where he posts wildlife videos, also generates additional earnings.
Matt Wright Social Media
Matt Wright maintains an active Instagram presence under the handle @mattwright, where he posts wildlife content, family moments, and updates from his tourism operations.
His YouTube channel, @MattWrightAustralia, carries wildlife videos and adventure content from his television and field work.
The Bottom Line
Matt Wright starred in Outback Wrangler across four seasons from 2011 to 2020, with the series reaching audiences in more than 90 countries. His follow-up series Wild Croc Territory premiered on Netflix in October 2022, extending his work to a global streaming audience.
He grew up across Papua New Guinea and outback Australia, collecting venomous snakes as a child before working as a horse wrangler, oil rig worker, and army soldier on his path to becoming a professional helicopter pilot and wildlife relocator.
He operates Top End Safari Camp and Tiwi Island Retreat as award-winning tourism businesses in Australia’s Northern Territory.
In August 2025, a jury at Darwin Supreme Court convicted him on two counts of perverting the course of justice linked to the 2022 helicopter crash that killed his friend and co-star Chris Wilson. He was released on bail and is currently appealing the verdict.
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