Sep 27 2007
Visit Kakadu National Park
With its rugged escarpments, lush wetlands, plunging gorges and cascading waterfalls, Kakadu National Park offers visitors a new world of sights, sounds and experiences. Renowned for its extraordinary natural wonders and rich cultural traditions, World Heritage listed Kakadu has a reputation for overloading the senses.
Located in Australia’s tropical Northern Territory, Kakadu is Australia’s largest national park, and one of the largest in the world, covering approximately 20,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles).
Kakadu is an incredibly ecologically and biologically diverse area with many different landforms and habitats, including sandstone plateaus and escarpments, areas of savanna woodlands and open forest, rivers, billabongs, floodplains, mangroves and mudflats. Kakadu also supports an extraordinary diversity of wildlife with over 280 species of birds, 60 kinds of native mammals, 55 kinds of freshwater fish, thousands of insect species and 75 different kinds of reptile (more than you’ll find in the whole of Europe) including goannas, frill-necked lizards, and of course the famous saltwater crocodile.
Kakadu National Park’s impressive sandstone escarpments feature some of the finest and most accessible rock art in the world. Archaeological evidence points to the Kakadu area being home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years. As a result, there is a rich heritage of Aboriginal art (including cave paintings and rock carvings) and archaeological sites throughout the region. Many Aboriginal artefacts have been found at old camping sites, particularly in the escarpment and floodplain country, recording the skills and way of life of the region’s original inhabitants.
Many say that to visit the park in the wet season (December to March) is the best – the only time. In the wet, the park drowns in water, heat, humidity, bright tropical colours, nature in the raw – all the fundamental elements that make up Australia’s unique natural world. Kakadu is a landscape of contrasts. Beneath waters dotted with delicate pink lotus flowers lurks the crocodile. Jagged peaks of towering escarpments hide pockets of lush rainforest. Roaring waterfalls thunder down rocky gorges to serene pools fringed with paperbarks, pandanus and cycads. If you get up early and head off the beaten track a little – you’ll be rewarded with vistas of remarkable colour and significant wildlife.
The immense natural beauty and cultural importance of Kakadu National Park make a trip into Kakadu an unforgettable experience.