Exploring Kakadu, Australia’s largest nationwide park, is a traveller’s playground of nature on the grandest and most gorgeous scale, and residing tradition that goes again additional than every other. Right here’s our Important Information to Kakadu — one of the fantastic locations on earth.
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Greater than twice the scale of Yellowstone Nationwide Park within the USA, Kakadu is actually monumental. It’s house to round a 3rd of Australia’s hen species and over 10,000 saltwater crocodiles (yup, the bitey ones).
It’s additionally the place the longest residing tradition nonetheless exists after 65,000 years and the unimaginable rock artwork and historical past that goes with it nonetheless going robust.
Kakadu is a spot of abundance and intrigue, of extremes and superlatives, and it’s one of the fascinating locations you can ever hope to go to.
Listed below are our high suggestions for the place to remain, the place to go and what to do on this distinctive panorama.
Important Information to Kakadu Nationwide Park
Clicking on every chapter will soar straight to that part.
— The very best rock artwork websites
— Tradition hubs – Kakadu customer centres
— Getting again to nature – seeing Kakadu’s wildlife
The way to Get to Kakadu
Kakadu is correct on the Prime Finish, a couple of hours’ drive east from Darwin. One of the best ways to get to Darwin — after all — is to fly.
From Sydney, it’s a 4-hour 20-minute flight, and all the opposite east-coast Aussie state capitals are about the identical .Adelaide and Perth are round 3h35m, and Hobart is a sickly seven-odd hours with a cease alongside the way in which.
Different choices are to sail in. Darwin Harbour is beautiful and has common cruises and different ships pull in. We docked at Darwin years in the past after a Nationwide Geographic voyage across the Kimberley Coast.
The opposite possibility is driving to Darwin. Driving the Prime Finish is an superior expertise and extremely really helpful when you’ve got the time.
Both method, as soon as in Darwin, you’ll need a automotive to get to Kakadu. You’ll be able to discover nice costs on automotive leases from Darwin Airport right here. We advocate a 4WD succesful automotive.
When you don’t wish to drive your self, there are many excursions going from Darwin to Kakadu which are wonderful too. This one goes from Darwin Metropolis proper into the park, to notorious Cahill’s Crossing to see enormous estuarine crocodiles, then to Ubirr for probably the most astounding rock artwork and again to Darwin in a day!
The place to Keep in Kakadu
There aren’t many locations to remain in Kakadu. Actually, except you wish to camp, you’re restricted to only a few resorts.
The Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Lodge within the little city of Jabiru is splendidly kitsch and cozy. Constructed within the form of a large crocodile, the Croc has been renovated from its earlier motel standing.
You could find our full assessment of this fascinating lodge right here.
The opposite possibility is Cooinda Lodge, which has a variety of lodging, from a campsite and hardstandings for motorhomes to motel-style rooms to full-blown luxurious safari lodge type cabins.
We stayed within the cabins — the Yellow Water Villas — and it was fantastic. Right here’s our assessment.
The place to Eat in Kakadu
Other than snacks at a few of the customer centres and a reasonably costly grocery store in Jabiru, you’re restricted to the eating places on the resorts.
Luckily, these eating places are wonderful.
Manjmukmuk Restaurant within the Croc Lodge has an inexpensive buffet possibility and likewise a stunning a la carte full-service part that gives some actually fairly spectacular dishes. Our assessment is right here.
Mimi’s at Cooinda is great and the chef — Phillip Foote — creates particular menus that showcase native bush components which are seasonally out there.
Additionally at Cooinda Lodge is the Barra Bar, serving pub type classics, and a fish and chip van that’s really very good.
Take a look at our write-up of all of the meals choices in Cooinda right here.
Issues to Do in Kakadu
Historic Galleries — Kakadu’s Rock Artwork Websites
There are many websites round Kakadu the place you’ll find a few of the finest examples of Indigenous rock artwork in Australia.
Ubirr
One of many largest collections of historical rock portray is at Ubirr, the place there are paths main all through this vital gallery. There’s even proof right here of thylacines — Tasmanian Tigers — by means of the artwork.
Excessive up on what would as soon as have been the rocky ground of the positioning is a portray of the now-extinct carnivorous marsupial. There are additionally depictions of megafauna — gigantic kangaroos and wombats the scale of automobiles.
This all illustrates not solely that people have been round when these ancestors of dinosaurs walked the earth, but additionally simply how previous these artworks are.
There’s loads of parking proper on the Ubirr web site, and watching the sundown right here can be very talked-about.
Nourlangie
On the base of an impressive limestone outcrop of the escarpment, Nourlangie Rock, hundreds of work inform the millennia of historical past of the Bininj and Mungguy tradition.
You may also see the place artists and elders of the present technology have come to replace and preserve the gallery that has been right here for therefore many hundreds of years.
We have been fortunate to have good younger native information James Morgan present us round Nourlangie and inform us a few of the tales across the artwork.
Between late Might and late September, you may guide a neighborhood information to take you spherical totally different cultural locations like Ubirr and Nourlangie totally free! Control the Kakadu Tourism web site for particulars.
Tradition Hubs – Kakadu’s Customer Centres
Kakadu has some really wonderful customer centres that not solely supply info on locations to go and issues to do, but additionally insights into the park’s tradition and historical past.
Bowali Customer Centre
This centre is the most effective customer centre for talking to a information about the place to go within the park and what to see.
There’s additionally a wonderful show on the crops, animals and landscapes you’ll expertise in Kakadu.
Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre
By the doorways of this spectacular centre, you’ll discover a winding path that takes you round a intelligent exhibit on the cultural historical past and community of the native peoples of the area.
You’ll discover examples of instruments, messaging programs and artworks of the realm, in addition to real-life tales from folks rising up in Kakadu and a simplified clarification of the complicated kinship guidelines governing marriage and households right here.
Marrawuddi Artwork Gallery
This gallery has a powerful assortment of artworks of a variety of media by Kakadu artists and from the broader area you should buy. It additionally sells a variety of luggage, clothes and souvenirs.
Simply as necessary, Marrawuddi Artwork Gallery makes the most effective takeaway espresso within the park. We extremely advocate having fun with your well-made flat white as you wander across the racks of artwork within the pretty air-con!
Getting Again to Nature — Kakadu’s Wild Aspect
Kakadu Hen Week with Luke Paterson from NT Hen Specialists
One of many highlights of Kakadu’s vacationer calendar is Kakadu Hen Week, which runs on the finish of September. It champions not solely the big depth and wealth of birdlife in Kakadu, which is house to over a 3rd of all Australia’s hen species, it’s additionally timed with considered one of nature’s nice spectacles.
This time of 12 months, when the dry season is at its finish, the waterways are at their lowest. This concentrates the waterbirds’ habitat. It additionally coincides with the flocking of hundreds upon hundreds of magpie geese.
You’ll be able to see this for your self fairly simply by making your technique to any of the massive billabongs of the park.
However if you wish to do it correctly (and truly perceive what you’re ), reserving a tour with NT Hen Specialists is a should. Luke ‘Hawkeye’ Paterson is considered one of Australia’s if not the world’s nice ornithologists. And his moniker will not be unfounded.
The couple of morning hours we spend with Luke, we noticed 64 totally different hen species and learnt about much more. You’ll be able to learn our full assessment of our time birding with Luke in Kakadu right here.
Cahill’s Crossing — probably the most harmful street on the planet
On the jap fringe of Kakadu, the place the park ends and Arnhem Land begins, runs the East Alligator River. It’s a poor title for the waterway as there are not any alligators in it in any respect. No, as a substitute you’ll discover a whole bunch of monumental saltwater crocodiles.
The street to Arnhem Land fords this river, and within the dry season, the water’s low sufficient to drive throughout. I wouldn’t advocate it — you additionally want the suitable permits to cross the river — however the viewing platform on the western financial institution provides you the right (and safely elevated) perspective on the looking crocs.
Ngurrungurrudjba — Yellow Water Sundown Cruise
Simply probably the most lovely and nature-filled exercise in Kakadu, the Yellow Water Cruise is particular. From Cooinda Lodge (you may guide your cruise right here), a bus transfers you to the little jetty the place everybody boards small, flat-bottom launches that permit entry to shallow waters.
You cruise alongside this magnificent stretch of water, recognizing every part from jacana birds and water buffalo to brolgas and big saltwater crocs. There are such a lot of of those fashionable dinosaurs in Yellow Water, you virtually turn into complacent with them.
Why is it referred to as Yellow Water it’s possible you’ll ask. The title (no, it’s not due to that) turns into obvious because the solar units and lights the floor of this billabong a blinding gold color that turns to bronze and purple because the solar will get decrease.
Take a look at our assessment and video of this spectacular expertise right here.
Maguk Waterfall
One of many few waterfalls that runs all 12 months spherical in Kakadu, Maguk and its glowing plunge pool are tucked away into the stony cliffs of the escarpment.
To get to the waterfall, you’re unsealed roads and a bush stroll that’s difficult at occasions because it follows the rocky riverside of Barramundi Gorge.
The recent hike is value it although. You emerge from the steaming rainforest to the idyllic sight of the falls and its pool which have carved themselves into the sandstone over the millennia. It’s protected to swim right here within the dry season, and the cool water is the right salve to the sweltering warmth.
Take a look at our write-up and video on Maguk right here.
Angabang Billabong
On the drive to Nourlangie and its superb rock artwork galleries, Angabang Billabong is a small wetlands that’s value a fast cease to see.
The shallow water spreads glittering throughout the plain and attracts a bunch of birdlife. At its again, the sculpted close to horizon of Nawurlandja looms, creating an atmospheric vista.
Nawurlandja at sundown
The regular incline of Nawurlandja takes you to an unlimited viewpoint that has Angabang Billabong at its ft, the strict bluff of Nourlangie behind and the ranging escarpment filling within the background.
Nawurlandja — like Nourlangie — has some wonderful rock artwork, however because the solar hits the western limits, it’s this vista you come for. Turning the sky a boiling purple and the rocks round gold and crimson, sundown at Nawurlandja is startlingly lovely.
Additionally, as this a part of the park closes at dusk, you’ll discover a Bininj park ranger monitoring guests. They’re completely happy to reply questions in regards to the space and sometimes have wonderful suggestions in your time right here.
Mirray Lookout
About midway between Cooinda and Jabiru, Mirray Lookout is a fairly powerful 1,000m uphill scramble up free rocks and purple dust to a lofty timber viewing platform.
The platform’s roof and the breeze at this elevation is beautiful, and when you’ve cooled down, you may take within the views.
From right here, the ocean of bushes appears to go on without end, hiding wetlands, rivers and its abundance of wildlife from view.
The bushes are punctuated by ridges of the Arnhem Land escarpment — Stone Nation to the Bininj and Mungguy. It’s right here that proof exists of people’ longest persevering with tradition on the planet.
What’s the Finest Time of Yr to Go to Kakadu
We’ve had the fortune to go to Kakadu various occasions — within the Moist Season in March and April, on the finish of the Dry in September and getting ready to summer season in December, the surreal super-humid second when the Dry has completed however the storms of the Moist haven’t but come.
Dry Season — Might-October
It’s straightforward to see why the Dry Season is widespread for vacationers. The humidity is low, the flies aren’t too unhealthy and quite a lot of the waterways are navigable. Actually the low water ranges usually imply that wildlife is extra concentrated.
Nonetheless, it’s the busy season for the park.
Moist Season — November-April
Also called the Inexperienced Season or the Tropical Summer time, the Moist is strictly because it sounds. The rains are heavy and common, and the temperatures and humidity are excessive. Among the points of interest might be unreachable or harmful with water inundation and the crocodiles increasing their territories.
Nonetheless, the abundance of life within the park is superb right now of 12 months. Every thing is inexperienced and luxurious, and the swollen rivers and billabongs add that additional little bit of drama to every part. Scenic flights right now of 12 months reveal the true wealth of nature of Kakadu.
It’s additionally a lot quieter within the Moist Season, which implies you just about have the run of the place.
A Fast Abstract
Getting there
Direct flights from all Aussie capitals (other than Hobart) to Darwin, then rent a automotive from Darwin to drive about 3.5 hours to Kakadu.
The place to remain
The Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Lodge in Jabiru is a unusual motel-style lodge within the form of a crocodile.
Cooinda Lodge has every part from a tenting floor to motel type cabins to high-end luxurious glamping retreats which are superb.
The place to eat
Manjmukmuk Restaurant within the Croc Lodge is nice. Mimi’s at Cooinda is great. Additionally at Cooinda Lodge is the Barra Bar, serving pub type classics, and a fish and chip van that’s really very good.
Marrawuddi Artwork Gallery has the most effective espresso within the space.
Issues to do
Should-dos are Ubirr and Nourlangie for the most effective rock artwork, Cahill’s Crossing for crocodiles and the Yellow Water cruise at sundown for the surroundings.
If Maguk is open, then it’s well worth the hike.
Expertise the profound birdlife in Kakadu. You are able to do this by yourself, however reserving a tour with folks like NT Hen Specialists places it in a complete different league.
What’s the most effective time of 12 months to go to?
The Dry Season (Might-October) is the preferred as a result of the park is a lot simpler to get round, however it’s a lot busier. The Moist (November-April) is probably the most dramatic, although humidity is hard.
The factor to recollect with Kakadu is it’s lovely and completely unforgettable all 12 months spherical.
