Kakadu National Park 
1.3 millionha.
Visitors centers
Comprehensive information on the natural history and culture of this unique area can be found in the National Park's Visitors Centre in Jabiru, which presents both the rich variety of flora and fauna as well as the traditions of the local Aborigines which have been handed down for thousands of years.
A new visitors or cultural center has been set up on the way to Yellow Waters which concentrates on the history and culture of the Aborigines.
Visitors centers
Comprehensive information on the natural history and culture of this unique area can be found in the National Park's Visitors Centre in Jabiru, which presents both the rich variety of flora and fauna as well as the traditions of the local Aborigines which have been handed down for thousands of years.
A new visitors or cultural center has been set up on the way to Yellow Waters which concentrates on the history and culture of the Aborigines.
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Must-see attractions nearby:
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Also fairly new is the Visitors Centre on Beatrice Hill, about 80km southeast of Darwin on the Arnhem Highway. The displays, which have the title Window on the Wetlands, are very well laid out.
Important information
Anyone who wants to enter Aboriginal Arnhem Land (Border Store, Oenpelli) needs a written permit from the Land Council. Information on the Kakadu National Park is provided by the National Park administrative body ANPWS in Canberra, as well as its branch offices in Darwin (Smith Street) and Jabiru, and by the Northern Territory Government Tourist Bureau. Distances in the park are considerable, and plenty of time should be allowed for seeing it. Three or four days at least are required for anything more than a superficial flying visit.
The best way of seeing the park is in a rented car (car rental firms in Darwin and Jabiru). There are no means of public transport within the park. Fuel and provisions can be bought in Jabiru, Cooinda, Kakadu Holiday Village and the Border Store.
There are organized tours from Darwin, but excursions can also be booked in the hotels and at Jabiru airport. There are also sightseeing flights from the airport (8km east of the park headquarters).
Warning It is essential to watch out for crocodiles when fishing, boating or playing on a river bank. Swimming is prohibited throughout the park because of the crocodiles.
Name
The name of Kakadu National Park comes from Gagadju, one of the languages spoken by the tribes living in the vast area of the park. Archaeological evidence has shown that Aborigines have been living in this region for at least 25,000 years; but it seems probable that they have been here much longer than that, according to their myths about the beginnings of all existence in the Dreamtime.
Features
Kakadu National Park has been included in UNESCO's World Heritage List by virtue of its exceptional cultural importance (e.g. Aboriginal rock paintings) and its unspoiled natural beauty. As with Ayers Rock and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, it is necessary to reconcile the constantly increasing numbers of visitors with the strictest protection of the natural landscape and the evidence of native culture. For this purpose the National Park is administered jointly by the traditional owners of the land, the Aboriginal tribes of Arnhem Land, within which the park lies, and the Australian National Park and Wildlife Service (ANPWS) in Canberra.
Much of the successful Australian film Crocodile Dundee was shot in Kakadu National Park, providing excellent publicity not only for the park but for the whole of the Top End.
Area and characteristics
Kakadu National Park extends for over 200km from north to south and over 100km from east to west, taking in almost the whole catchment area of the South Alligator River - making it the largest national park in Australia and the third largest in the world. An impression of its varied ecozystems can be gained by road, on foot, from elevated viewpoints or by boat. On the north coast is the tidal zone, with river estuaries, mangrove swamps and tall monsoon rain forests, and inland from the coast are the flood plains through which rivers pursue a winding course to the sea. During the dry season salt water and crocodiles advance anything up to 80km inland, while during the rest of the year large expanses of wetlands are under water, the flooding varying according to the duration and intensity of the rain. These areas are important staging posts for migratory birds and home to countless water birds - the magpie goose, the brolga (a species of crane), and the jabiru (black-necked stork).
Further inland is the gently undulating upland country which occupies the greater part of the park. All the main roads run through this area, so that visitors see mainly expanses of open tropical woodland. At the beginning of the dry season small areas of dry grassland are deliberately burned so as to reduce the danger of large-scale fires at the peak of the dry season.
The escarpment of the Arnhem Land plateau runs diagonally through the park from southwest to northeast. The plateau is dry, and after heavy rain, water pours over its bare rocks and down the escarpment in magnificent waterfalls to join the rivers and wetlands of the north.
The vegetation, consisting of shrubs and grass, is similar to that of Australia's arid interior. During the dry season the waterfalls and rivers dry up, leaving only rock pools and billabongs (waterholes in the river beds) to which many animals come to drink. Erosion has eaten away at the sandstone of the plateau, with projecting formations of harder stone such as Nourlangie Rock, famed for its rock paintings. Scattered patches of monsoon rain forest are found in the gorges and on shady hillsides where there is water.
In the south of the park, in stony upland areas with scattered crags of granite, plants and animals from the wetter north and the arid interior are found side by side. Much of the catchment area of the South Alligator River lies in this barren stone country.
Seasons
The alternation of the seasons in the tropical Top End is highly dramatic. The Aborigines, living close to nature, divide the year into six seasons, differentiated according to weather conditions and their effect on their hunting and gathering activities.
In the pre-monsoon period at the end of the hot, dry time of year, with storms and the first rain (the season they called gunumeleng, from October to mid-December), the Aborigines used to leave the lowland country and seek shelter from the heavy rain and flooding in caves and under rock overhangs.
Then follows the season of heavy rain, storms and flooding, when animals, fleeing into the trees, are easy to catch and goose eggs can be collected (gudjewg, from mid-December to March). Then the rain becomes less heavy and the floods subside, plants bear fruit and animals have their young, and the last storms sweep over the tall spinifex grass in the open woodland (bangerreng, in April).
After this is a time of morning mists and drying winds; carefully controlled fires 'clean' the land, still damp under the surface, and stimulate new growth, so that, it is said, many animals can be taken ready roasted (yegge, May to mid-June).
The cool season (days 30°C, nights 17°C) with less moisture leads to the drying up of watercourses and flood plains; geese must share the remaining waterholes with flocks of waterfowl and are easy to catch (wurrgeng, mid-June to mid-August). The following weeks are dry, hot and windless; all life seems asleep. Geese can still be caught, but now snakes and tortoises as well. The first storm clouds and lightning announce the coming of a new rainy season (gurrung, mid-August to end September). Although the wet season (November to March) can be trying, a visit at this time is an impressive experience, with thunderstorms, flooded waterholes, tumbling waterfalls and tumultuous rivers - but also with many roads, tracks, camping grounds and picnic areas closed by flooding.
Important information
Anyone who wants to enter Aboriginal Arnhem Land (Border Store, Oenpelli) needs a written permit from the Land Council. Information on the Kakadu National Park is provided by the National Park administrative body ANPWS in Canberra, as well as its branch offices in Darwin (Smith Street) and Jabiru, and by the Northern Territory Government Tourist Bureau. Distances in the park are considerable, and plenty of time should be allowed for seeing it. Three or four days at least are required for anything more than a superficial flying visit.
The best way of seeing the park is in a rented car (car rental firms in Darwin and Jabiru). There are no means of public transport within the park. Fuel and provisions can be bought in Jabiru, Cooinda, Kakadu Holiday Village and the Border Store.
There are organized tours from Darwin, but excursions can also be booked in the hotels and at Jabiru airport. There are also sightseeing flights from the airport (8km east of the park headquarters).
Warning It is essential to watch out for crocodiles when fishing, boating or playing on a river bank. Swimming is prohibited throughout the park because of the crocodiles.
Name
The name of Kakadu National Park comes from Gagadju, one of the languages spoken by the tribes living in the vast area of the park. Archaeological evidence has shown that Aborigines have been living in this region for at least 25,000 years; but it seems probable that they have been here much longer than that, according to their myths about the beginnings of all existence in the Dreamtime.
Features
Kakadu National Park has been included in UNESCO's World Heritage List by virtue of its exceptional cultural importance (e.g. Aboriginal rock paintings) and its unspoiled natural beauty. As with Ayers Rock and the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, it is necessary to reconcile the constantly increasing numbers of visitors with the strictest protection of the natural landscape and the evidence of native culture. For this purpose the National Park is administered jointly by the traditional owners of the land, the Aboriginal tribes of Arnhem Land, within which the park lies, and the Australian National Park and Wildlife Service (ANPWS) in Canberra.
Much of the successful Australian film Crocodile Dundee was shot in Kakadu National Park, providing excellent publicity not only for the park but for the whole of the Top End.
Area and characteristics
Kakadu National Park extends for over 200km from north to south and over 100km from east to west, taking in almost the whole catchment area of the South Alligator River - making it the largest national park in Australia and the third largest in the world. An impression of its varied ecozystems can be gained by road, on foot, from elevated viewpoints or by boat. On the north coast is the tidal zone, with river estuaries, mangrove swamps and tall monsoon rain forests, and inland from the coast are the flood plains through which rivers pursue a winding course to the sea. During the dry season salt water and crocodiles advance anything up to 80km inland, while during the rest of the year large expanses of wetlands are under water, the flooding varying according to the duration and intensity of the rain. These areas are important staging posts for migratory birds and home to countless water birds - the magpie goose, the brolga (a species of crane), and the jabiru (black-necked stork).
Further inland is the gently undulating upland country which occupies the greater part of the park. All the main roads run through this area, so that visitors see mainly expanses of open tropical woodland. At the beginning of the dry season small areas of dry grassland are deliberately burned so as to reduce the danger of large-scale fires at the peak of the dry season.
The escarpment of the Arnhem Land plateau runs diagonally through the park from southwest to northeast. The plateau is dry, and after heavy rain, water pours over its bare rocks and down the escarpment in magnificent waterfalls to join the rivers and wetlands of the north.
The vegetation, consisting of shrubs and grass, is similar to that of Australia's arid interior. During the dry season the waterfalls and rivers dry up, leaving only rock pools and billabongs (waterholes in the river beds) to which many animals come to drink. Erosion has eaten away at the sandstone of the plateau, with projecting formations of harder stone such as Nourlangie Rock, famed for its rock paintings. Scattered patches of monsoon rain forest are found in the gorges and on shady hillsides where there is water.
In the south of the park, in stony upland areas with scattered crags of granite, plants and animals from the wetter north and the arid interior are found side by side. Much of the catchment area of the South Alligator River lies in this barren stone country.
Seasons
The alternation of the seasons in the tropical Top End is highly dramatic. The Aborigines, living close to nature, divide the year into six seasons, differentiated according to weather conditions and their effect on their hunting and gathering activities.
In the pre-monsoon period at the end of the hot, dry time of year, with storms and the first rain (the season they called gunumeleng, from October to mid-December), the Aborigines used to leave the lowland country and seek shelter from the heavy rain and flooding in caves and under rock overhangs.
Then follows the season of heavy rain, storms and flooding, when animals, fleeing into the trees, are easy to catch and goose eggs can be collected (gudjewg, from mid-December to March). Then the rain becomes less heavy and the floods subside, plants bear fruit and animals have their young, and the last storms sweep over the tall spinifex grass in the open woodland (bangerreng, in April).
After this is a time of morning mists and drying winds; carefully controlled fires 'clean' the land, still damp under the surface, and stimulate new growth, so that, it is said, many animals can be taken ready roasted (yegge, May to mid-June).
The cool season (days 30°C, nights 17°C) with less moisture leads to the drying up of watercourses and flood plains; geese must share the remaining waterholes with flocks of waterfowl and are easy to catch (wurrgeng, mid-June to mid-August). The following weeks are dry, hot and windless; all life seems asleep. Geese can still be caught, but now snakes and tortoises as well. The first storm clouds and lightning announce the coming of a new rainy season (gurrung, mid-August to end September). Although the wet season (November to March) can be trying, a visit at this time is an impressive experience, with thunderstorms, flooded waterholes, tumbling waterfalls and tumultuous rivers - but also with many roads, tracks, camping grounds and picnic areas closed by flooding.
Things to See
Aboriginal Rock Painting 
The two easily accessible rock formations with Aboriginal rock paintings, the Ubirr (Obiri) Rock and the Nourlangie Rock, are a must for all visitors. The Ubirr Rock, in the northeast of the park, is inaccessible during the wet season because the unsurfaced road is flooded.
From the visitors center in the park headquarters to the Ubirr Rock it is 40km (asphalted road), and to the Nourlangie Rock in the south, with the two sites of Anbangbang to the south and Nanguhiwur to the north (footpath, 2km), it is 30km on an asphalted road branching off the Kakadu Highway. In addition to these two famous sites there are many other cave entrances and rock overhangs with rock paintings in the park and in the rest of the Arnhem Land escarpment, but these are not easily accessible and are known only to a few specialists.
Along with the Nourlangie Rock to the south of Jabiru, the Ubirr Rock has the most important assemblage of Aboriginal art in Australia. Side by side, and sometimes on top of one another, are very ancient naturalistic representations, followed by symbolic stylizations with mythological figures (e.g. the rainbow serpent). In addition there are fascinating 'X-ray' pictures, showing the skeleton and internal organs of the animals depicted (barramundis, crocodiles, turtles). The latest groups of pictures are related to the Aborigines' encounter with Indonesian trepang fishers and white settlers, with representations of boats, guns, horses and buffaloes. Radiocarbon dating has shown that the oldest paintings are more than 20,000 years old.
From the visitors center in the park headquarters to the Ubirr Rock it is 40km (asphalted road), and to the Nourlangie Rock in the south, with the two sites of Anbangbang to the south and Nanguhiwur to the north (footpath, 2km), it is 30km on an asphalted road branching off the Kakadu Highway. In addition to these two famous sites there are many other cave entrances and rock overhangs with rock paintings in the park and in the rest of the Arnhem Land escarpment, but these are not easily accessible and are known only to a few specialists.
Along with the Nourlangie Rock to the south of Jabiru, the Ubirr Rock has the most important assemblage of Aboriginal art in Australia. Side by side, and sometimes on top of one another, are very ancient naturalistic representations, followed by symbolic stylizations with mythological figures (e.g. the rainbow serpent). In addition there are fascinating 'X-ray' pictures, showing the skeleton and internal organs of the animals depicted (barramundis, crocodiles, turtles). The latest groups of pictures are related to the Aborigines' encounter with Indonesian trepang fishers and white settlers, with representations of boats, guns, horses and buffaloes. Radiocarbon dating has shown that the oldest paintings are more than 20,000 years old.
Gagudju Crocodile Hotel
Jabiru's main attraction is the Gagudju Crocodile Hotel, which is built to look like a crocodile, 250m long and 30m wide, and is particularly impressive from the air. Its architecture equates with the crocodile totem of the local Gagudju Aborigines. Traditional Aboriginal motifs were also used in the Kakadu Frontier Lodge and the caravan park, where the architects were particularly fond of the Aborigines' circular motif. An artificial lake has been created so that visitors can bathe without any fear of crocodiles, and golfers are also catered for, although the greens require a great deal of watering.
Jabiru
The mining settlement of Jabiru (pop. 1410) lies within Kakadu National Park near the Ranger uranium mine. The popularity of the national park has made Jabiru an important supply and services center.
There are conducted tours of the nearby Ranger uranium mine (starting from Jabiru East Airport). Kakadu Air runs sightseeing flights over the steep Arnhem Land Escarpment and other sights in the area.
There are conducted tours of the nearby Ranger uranium mine (starting from Jabiru East Airport). Kakadu Air runs sightseeing flights over the steep Arnhem Land Escarpment and other sights in the area.
Kakadu National Park Wildlife 
An amazing variety of wildlife can be seen in Kakadu National Park. For a start one quarter of all the species of fish known in Australia swim in its waters. Then there are more than 70 different kinds of reptile, the largest and most dangerous of which is the aggressive saltwater crocodile. On view at the waterholes are about 50 different species of mammal and about 300 different types of bird. To observe all this wildlife there are walking trails in the park. The innumerable water birds (including the jabiru stork) and crocodiles are best seen from a boat.
Ranger Mine
Near Jabiru a rich uranium deposit under the sandstone is being worked at the Ranger Mine (guided tours by arrangement). Environmentalists have been warning of the dangers of uranium mining for a long time, and over the last few years large areas have been polluted by escaping radioactive material. In spite of this an additional uranium mine is shortly to be opened near Jabiru.
Waterfalls
The Jim Jim Falls, the Twin Falls (to the southeast) and the Maguk Falls (to the south), which are at their most impressive in the wet season, can be reached only with all-terrain vehicles; there are organized tours from Jabiru and Cooinda in May-October. Gunlom (Waterfall Creek) can be reached on a track from Mary River Roadhouse (sometimes closed during the wet season).
Access coming from the south the Kakadu Highway, which branches off the Stuart Highway at Pine Creek, crosses the Mary River to enter the park (206km on a road which presents no difficulties in the dry season). An advantage of this road is that it runs close to the escarpment of the Arnhem Plateau. From Darwin, the Arnhem Highway runs over the plain. It is a good idea to take this route to the park (170km) and to leave it on the Kakadu Highway, heading south, so as to take in two other sights in the north of the Northern Territory, Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk National Park) and Mataranka . This route is suitable also for visitors coming from the Red Centre or from Mount Isa in Queensland. In the wet season, the highway through the park may be closed, in which case it is necessary to use the Arnhem Highway in both directions.
Guides
Guided tour available as optional extra.
Facilities
Restaurant or food service
More Australia Resources
- Kakadu National Park tours by Viator
