Home 

Accommodation 

Facilities 

Service 

Events 

WWOOF 

Things to do 

Contact 

Site Map 

Disclaimer 
 
 

This huge park of exceptional beauty extends from the wild, sandstone escarpments of Arnhem Land in the east, to the mangrove-rich, tidal fiats of Van Dieman Gulf in the north, and south almost to Katherine Gorge. Three major rivers flow through Kakadu, encompassing almost the entire drainage basin of the huge South Alligator River.

Visitors are drawn by the park's incredibly rich assortment of flora and fauna - 900 plant species, 300 kinds of birds, 75 reptiles (including the giant, dangerous saltwater crocodile), 50 native mammals, 30 amphibians, a quarter of all Australian freshwater fish, and countless insect species.

But Kakadu is not only home to the wildlife. The area boasts the longest continuous surviving human culture in the world. Aborigines have lived in Kakadu for at least 25,000 years (perhaps as long as 50,000 years), making the park one of the few World Heritage sites to be listed for both natural and cultural reasons. Today, Aboriginal people work in partnership with the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service in determining park policy and young Aborigines are trained as rangers and guides. Learning about Aboriginal legends and sacred sites enhances visitors appreciation of Kakadu.

June to September is the main tourist season. Visiting during the"wet" season (December to March), is difficult because although the park is green and bountiful with wildflowers and birds, many of the tracks are flooded and inaccessible.

Things to see:
 
At first glance the walls of the Ubirr Rock Galleries in Australia's Kakadu National Park seem covered in a chaotic mass of shapes and colours. Perhaps a few images stand out: a human figure here, a barramundi there. After a while you begin to adapt to the layers of designs and recognise hundreds of animals, tracks and figures - catfish, goanna, turtles, kangaroos, even an image of the now-extinct Tasmanian tiger. And then you feel the presence of the people who painted these walls thousands of years ago; the presence of the Aboriginal elders who gathered round these sacred rocks to perform solemn rituals.   Kakadu National Park - Ubirr Rock paintings
 
Kakadu National Park - Nurlangie Rock   Nourlangie Rock is part of the area known as the Mt. Brockman Massif. There are over 100 sacred sites in this area and some of them are designated sacred-dangerous (and therefore not open to the public). The area has a number of cave sites and there is evidence of quarries where the local Aborigines made their stone implements. Interestingly some of the caves include drawings of thylacines, Tasmanian tigers, which presumably lived in the area at the time the paintings were done.
 
The Jim Jim Falls are a kind of Australian Catch-22. In the 'dry', when access is possible via a rather unpleasant 60 km dirt road (the last 11 km are really suitable for 4WD only), the water dries up and the falls often don't fall. In the 'wet' when the falls are at their most spectacular it is impossible to drive any vehicle into the area. Those photographs of the falls at their most dramatic were all taken by people who entered the area by light plane or helicopter.   Kakadu National Park - Jim Jim Falls
 
Kakadu National Park - Twin Falls   For all their beauty Twin Falls are the ultimate obstacle course, not only does the visitor have to travel the 60 km dirt road to the Jim Jim Falls but when there they have to swim or sail around to the Twin Falls. There is no land access to the falls. The effort, for the enthusiastic, is rewarded by the sight of a double cascading waterfall with a small beach at the bottom.
 
 

BACK TOP