Kakadu National Park

Home to a diverse number of flora and fauna, a vast landscape filled with majestic waterfalls and riverbanks, Kakadu National Park is an environmental and cultural sanctuary. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kakadu National Park is a main tourist destination in the Northern Territory of Australia that covers more than 4.8 million acres.

Like the popular Bungle Bungle Ranges in the west, Kakadu got its name from the incorrect pronunciation of an Aboriginal word, Gagudju, which is literally the lingua franca of the people.

Kakadu is home to a very rich and diverse ecosystem. Major rivers surround and flow in to the area. The East, West, and South Alligator River and the Wildman River are home to a variety of reptile species including the famed Fresh and Saltwater crocodiles. The park also has six different landscapes which underwent a lot of geological changes millions of years ago. A shallow sea 140 million years before, the Stone Country, or the Arnhem Land plateau was the only landform above the sea during that time. The southern hills and basins have its volcanic origins while the estuaries and tidal flats becomes the habitat of its flora. Other land parts include the outliers, the lowlands and the floodplains. The park also contains the biggest uranium producing mine in the world, the Ranger Uranium Mines.

Kakadu is also rich in history. Rock paintings made by the Aboriginal people are still present in the area of Ubirr and Nourlangie and are considered exceptional. Occupied and cultivated by the Aboriginal people dating 40,000 years ago, big portions of land still belong to them.

Visitors will be pleased to have a view of its waterfalls. The famous ones are Maguk, Gunlom, Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls. Kakadu’s wildlife is also extensive. Rare species survive in the Yellow Water Billabong, Mamukala Wetlands, Alligator Rivers, Anbangbang Billabong and on the park’s forest. Australia’s pride, the kangaroo, together with wallabies, dingoes, crocodiles, frogs, birds, and insects live in those areas. With hundreds of varieties of birds, Kakadu is the best site for bird watching. Activities at Kakadu National Park include walking and wandering along the park, fishing and cruising on the waters, learning the history through the Aborigines art, but definitely not hunting of wild animals.

Kakadu National Park