In the footsteps of Crocodile Dundee: Kakadu

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Kakadu is a huge national park located in the northern tip of Australia, a few kilometers away from Darwin. Kakadu has two very distinct seasons: The wet season (during which, most of the access to the park is closed because the entire park gets flooded by a couple of meters of water, with Crocs about everywhere.), and the dry season, where most of the park is open to the public, but when the water falls such as JimJim don't get enough water to be actual waterfalls...

Kakadu is a spectacular park because of its thousand-years old Aborigines heritage, because of the vast and breathtaking landscapes, and because of its thousands of animal, birds and insect species that thrive in the park. There are two ways to visit Kakadu: either by renting a 4WD by yourself, packing some camping gear, some food, a map, and driving through the thousands of km to visit the different areas of interest of the park, or, it is also possible to join one of the tours that are regularly organized by agencies in Darwin. Our experience of the latter was really good despite the rather hefty price because it was hassle free, optimized in terms of timing & visits, and our guide was fantastic, providing alot of insights on the park, the aborigines art & culture, the insects and plants, as well as survival skills!

 

Kakadu Park has a fantastic website with all the info you may need. The tour we booked was 3 days, 2 nights, into Kakadu & Lichfield park. On a personal note, Lichfield is more touristy and is great if you are looking for fantastic waterfalls to swim in, but it is also possible to do 3 days Kakadu and explore more of the park!

Our first stop into the tour was to the Corroboree Billabong, where we had a boat trip on the water to observe cormorants, huge saltwater crocodiles, dozens of cranes and a fantastic little bird called Jacanas, which hop from a lotus to another!

After a few kilometers drive, we then visited one of the highlights of Kakadu; Ubir. This hill is reached after a short by enjoyable trek, and offers amazing views on the whole surrounding. Imagining that the entire place gets flooded during the wet season, and gets infested by 5m-long crocs makes you realize how tough are the Aborigines, that have always managed to live on this land! Ubir is of great significance for Aborigines, and holds many old paintings of Aborigines art. Every time we stopped, more species of birds could be observed! Like these very "common" cockatoos and kingfishers!

After a night camping, and learning different ways to light a fire in the Australian Bush, we headed to Jim Jim falls. Even though the falls don't actually exist during the dry season, the spot is still quite amazing, with clean water (supposedly safe from crocs who are meant to stop at the croc-trap a few meters downstream) and a huge pool in which to swim!

On the third day (after another evening by the fire, eating awesome aussy BBQ, admiring parrots and hundreds of fox-bats going out for their nocturnal hunt, and after another night under the stars) we headed for Lichfield Park. The park is more touristy (because closer to Darwin and much easier of access) but has fantastic water falls, lots of different types of termite mounds and again, lots of different birds to see!

After the trip, we enjoyed a great night-market on Darwin beach under the spectacular lights of a sunset on the beach!