Exploring Australia's Kakadu
National Park in Australia Ranks Among Continent's Natural Wonders
Located in Australia’s Northern Territory about 124 miles (200 kilometers) east of Darwin, Kakadu is an adventure place par excellence.
The park is the ancestral land of the aboriginal people called the Gagjudju, who in 1978 leased their land to the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. Kakadu was proclaimed a National Park in 1979 and has since been placed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, qualifying in both the cultural and natural categories.
Jabiru, Kakadu’s largest tourist center, was built in conjunction with an uranium mine. Facilities include several lodging places, a service station, medical clinic and shopping center. There’s also a small airport, but no scheduled air services with Darwin operate. A loop road of approximately 900 km ( miles) takes motorists through the park then goes through the city of Katherine and back to Darwin.
Accommodations
Accommodations range from primitive campsites to up-market luxury. At the top of the list is a resort in Jabiru called Kakadu, shaped like a crocodile. The resort’s design is elegantly simple. Guests walk through the jaws of a 273-yard (250-meter) croc to get to the hotel lobby. Less than an hour’s drive south is Cooinda, a relaxed resort with bungalow style accommodations, bougainvillea cascades over the walls and flowering bushes blossom along the pathways. Exceptionally fine collections of aboriginal art are on display at both resorts.
Extreme Diversity
Kakadu is not only huge - 7,304 square miles (19,000 square kilometres) - it's exceedingly diverse, both topographically and as far as climate is concerned. That diversity has resulted in more than 1,000 kinds of plants, 50 mammals, 275 birds, 75 reptiles, 25 frogs and 55 fish thriving within the park's boundaries. To see the maximum number of rare birds, beasts and botanical species - or, rather, to know what you're seeing - it's a good idea to go with a guide whenever you can. Among the best short excursions are the Yellow Water tours.
Getting From Place to Place
Top Kakadu attractions include hundreds of termite “cathedrals” which range from small mounds to 20-foot high spires. Within the park are spectacular waterfalls and gorges as well as one of the richest collections of aboriginal art in Australia.
Since the park is so vast, it’s impossible to see all these attractions in a day or two. To compound the problem, getting from place to place can be difficult. For example, Jim-Jim Falls, is an hour and a half away from Jabiru and Twin Falls is only about six miles from Jim-Jim, but to get to the latter during the wet, you’ll have to go by boat. During the dry season, you’ll need a four-wheel drive vehicle. As a result, it’s a good idea to take advantage of guided tours or to hire a vehicle and driver.
The Seasons
During the dry season, participants pile into a four-wheel drive van at dawn for the short ride from Cooinda down the road to a landlocked billabong called Yellow Waters. Before Christmas comes, the waters rise so that the billabong becomes a part of the Jim Jim Creek and South Alligator River systems. Then the road becomes inundated and the excursion boats leave directly from Cooinda.
Even during the wet season, when far fewer alligators and birds inhabit the area, you'll see the occasional gator under a pandanus and more birds than you've probably ever seen before - the long-legged brolgas, black-necked storks (jabiru), pelicans, sea eagles and egrets. There's the marsh harrier that flies around screaming see-ya, see-ya; and the kookaburra, which despite what the song says, doesn't laugh.
For more information contact kakadunationalpark.
