Kakadu: Love at First Flight

​The highlight of my visit to Top End Australia was a 5-day guided tour that visited three national parks – Kakadu, Nitmiluk, and Litchfield. I was particularly excited at the prospect of seeing wild crocs, waterfalls in red canyons, and ancient rock art.

While it’s possible to see these places by renting a car, I’m glad I had the tour for a few reasons. One was accessibility, like making the treacherous Cahill’s Crossing into Arnhem Land, where a special permit is needed. Another was seasonality, as many attractions were not yet open following the wet season. The guide was able to take us to the best places that were feasible given the conditions. The third and more practical reason was the lodging. As a solo traveler, I didn’t want to pay for an expensive hotel room inside the park. These were not towns with hostels. Nor did I want to rough a campsite alone. The tour offered a way to stay at economical campsites with safety in numbers.

Rick was our driver and guide, a seasoned professional with 27 years of experience. He was exceptional at feeding us the right amount of information at a digestible cadence, giving us a proactive heads-up on bathroom stops, meal timing, and swimming opportunities. He was effective as a nature guide, pointing out unique plant and animal species, as well as a cultural ambassador when explaining the rock art sites. He was a competent chef, leading the dinner preparations every night while creating opportunities for us to jump in and help. Rick also had a great sense of humor. One time, in the middle of a nature talk, he reached into the hollow of a tree and pretended to be pulled in, a hilarious bit of slapstick that caught us off guard! We were incredibly lucky to be on Rick’s tour.

​The group itself also had a good dynamic. There were 10 of us in total, 3 foreigners and 7 Australians, and a mix of all ages. It felt like being on a family road trip!

There was a couple from Wollongong, Emma and Andrew, with their two daughters in 3rd and 6th grade. Emma did an excellent job of making sure the kids were behaving on the long drives, while also encouraging them to participate and engage. It was uplifting to see good parenting with an emphasis on learning through travel. The kids were precocious and added a dose of energy to the whole trip.

An older couple from Perth, Eric and Chris, played the role of good-natured grandparents. Chris was hard of hearing, a side effect of COVID, and Eric would occasionally sit out an activity, but otherwise they kept up with the younger crowd just fine. Eric had an interesting life story, having lived in several countries like South Africa and India, had been a priest, and worked with homeless people in rough inner cities.

And finally that leaves the other solo travelers. Gill was a lawyer from Melbourne who was relaxed and personable. I learned she was a fellow theater kid and also lived in Carlton. Emma (yes there were two Emmas in the group!) was a French working holidaymaker who had been staying with a family friend in rural NSW. She seemed a bit hesitant at times, but clearly had the self-confidence to embark on this adventure. Emma was full of hilarious French interjections, especially when playing cards. ​Ben was a jack-of-all-trades from Canada, who had been driving a tractor for his working holiday in Queensland. Soon he would be returning home to work at the Calgary stampede. Ben was extremely friendly and the principal daredevil of the group, seeking out rocks to jump off on all our swimming stops.

The bus was a hefty 4WD, smaller than the bus on Fraser Island, but still with empty seats. The entrance had a fold-down step and a water cooler, a lifeline in the Top End’s tropical weather. The back had a tiny luggage compartment and trunk, both of which were tightly packed. The main cargo was a pair of enormous blue eskys, which kept our food ingredients cold.

​The first day was totally jam-packed with memorable moments. Pickup was 6:30am in downtown Darwin. We briefly stopped in Humpty Doo for supplies, then headed to the Mary River for a billabong cruise. The wildlife spotting began en route. We saw around 15 types of animals in the first few hours alone. For example, water buffalo which are an introduced species that wreak havoc on the fragile wetlands. The most common macropods in the region are called Agile Wallabies, and they were indeed agile when scattering into the bush as we drove past.

​The cruise took place at the Corroborree Billabong. A billabong is a cutoff bend of the river, also known as an oxbow lake. It was teeming with mangroves, pandanus trees, water lilies, and birds. The water lily flowers extended into the distance as far as the eye could see, a stunning backdrop. The floating lily pads were hydrophobic, with beads of water resting on top.

​The Top End has two main seasons – the wet season, roughly November to April, and the dry season, roughly May to October. I visited at the very end of May, which was still early in the dry season. The water levels at the billabong were still high, but in a few weeks, many ponds would be gone.

The most striking bird was the jabiru (JAB-a-roo), Australia’s only species of stork. The tall and stately jabirus had a dark blue neck. When taking flight, their white wings had a prominent black stripe. Fun fact, female jabirus have yellow eyes, while males have black eyes. Other birds included egrets, herons, ibises, cormorants, magpie geese, and snake-necked darters.

​Of course, we were all hoping to see crocodiles – and we saw three! They were a mix of freshwater and saltwater crocs, with the saltwater crocs being larger. One “saltie” was resting in the grass with its yellow mouth wide open, apparently for ventilation. Another was floating in the shallows, with jabirus walking around it. The driver advanced the boat until it bumped into the edge of the water, just a few meters from the croc! It smiled for our photos.

​As we drove into Kakadu National Park, we saw dozens of controlled burns in progress. Late May is the beginning of the dry season, and the ideal time for these fires. Rick explained that a proper controlled burn would clear the understory without charring the tree trunks. The most striking thing about these controlled burns was the lack of people around them. I always assumed that controlled burns were closely monitored, but we didn’t see a single person near any of them. However, the pace of the flames seemed reasonably slow. Only one or two burns looked like they were picking up, and Rick said they would be watched more closely.

​Above these fires circled numerous whistling kites, hunting for mice or other smoked-out prey. Nicknamed “firebirds,” the kites sometimes carry burning twigs to start new fires, and apparently are the main cause of uncontrolled burns in the park. Driving through the charred bush with circling kites was beautiful in a way that was hard to describe. It was a front row seat to the area’s dynamic landscape, but also a bit ominous to be surrounded by fire-wielding raptors.

​We arrived at our campsite in the town of Jabiru, named after the storks we had just seen. I was expecting to be sleeping in a “bush swag,” a single person tent on the ground. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to be staying in screened cabins. There were enough for us to have individual rooms. The cabins had electrical outlets for charging, and fans to cope with the hot nighttime temperatures. One night before going to bed, I checked the weather, and it was 83 F with 70% humidity. The humidity often increased at night, counteracting the dropping temperature. So we didn’t get the best quality of sleep, but it was much better than a bush swag.

​The intended activity for the afternoon was crossing the East Alligator River to meet with a local guide in Arnhem Land. However, when we reached Cahill’s Crossing, the conditions were unfavorable. On a good day, it’s still submerged underwater and surrounded by crocodile-infested waters. This was a bad day, with rapids too. I thought of my recent experience on Fraser Island, when the bus got stuck in the sand and we had to jump out. Crocs outside the bus seemed way scarier than dingoes. Thankfully Rick paused to assess.

​Cahill’s Crossing is close enough to the ocean that water level and current change throughout the day. When we arrived it was 0.7m deep (Rick said 0.5m was comfortable) and the water was moving rapidly. Rick mulled over the situation, while we waited at the viewing platform. Our tour was one of few that included Arnhem Land in the itinerary; most people just visit the platform to soak in the scene and watch other vehicles make the crossing. Anticipation was in the air. The tourists waited for someone to cross. The fisherman along the river waited for something to bite. And the crocs waited for someone to make a mistake…

Rick smartly decided not to attempt the crossing. The itinerary left the possibility of coming back the next day. Instead, we visited Ubirr, a famous rock art site and panoramic lookout that I was actually hoping to see anyways.
​
The rock art at Ubirr was quite stunning. The paintings spanned many eras of history, from 20,000 years ago to European contact. Some paintings were of the “x-ray style,” which depicts animals in cross-section with internal organs. X-ray animals included barramundi, goannas, turtles, and wallabies. Other paintings were stick figures, like an Aboriginal fisherman or a European depicted with their hands in their pockets.

Some paintings were accompanied by the silhouette of a handprint, made by spitting ochre, as the artist’s signature. The ochre paints are able to sink into the porous sandstone 2-7mm, so even as the rock erodes, the paintings persist. Their sheltered location also helped. To further prevent rainwater damage, there was a line of silicone installed underneath the overhang, which causes the water droplets to divert.

A handful of paintings were improbably located on the undersides of rocky overhangs, several stories above. This included one of the Mimi spirits (from local folklore) and a Tasmanian tiger, now extinct in the area.

Another art location was an ancient classroom, with paintings of morality stories for children. The stories featured young people who disobeyed tribal norms, like eating a certain animal before they were properly initiated into adulthood, that escalate into inter-tribal warfare as a cautionary tale.
​
The views from the top of Ubirr were also impressive, with the vast floodplains to one side and the rocky escarpment in the other direction. Not bad for a last-minute substitution.

​But the day wasn’t over yet! We were given the option to book an extra activity – a scenic flight over Kakadu, from the Jabiru airport. I had skipped scenic flights in several other places on the trip, waiting for the right moment, and here it was. My commercial flights to/from Darwin were both at night, so I hadn’t seen the Top End from above. I was also hoping to see some of the waterfalls that were currently closed for road access (though it turned out these were farther south in the park, outside of the flight path). At a price of $172 USD for a one-hour session, it also seemed within reach.

Seven of us said yes to the flight – the family from Wollongong, myself, Emma, and Ben. We were under the impression one plane would fit all 7 of us, but we actually got split into two planes. In mine, it was just the pilot and three passengers. I’d never been in a small plane before, and I appreciated that the wing was above the window, offered unobstructed views of the landscape. We wore headsets and could hear the chatter with air traffic control. Overall, it was very comfortable, with more leg room than Jetstar. The pilot described the features of the landscape with good detail and enthusiasm.

The scenery was jaw-dropping from start to finish. It was tricky to balance the pure amazement with taking photos/videos, but this was an excellent problem to have.
​
Jabiru is a mining town, and the first thing we saw was the giant uranium mine. This area of Kakadu has high amounts of uranium, arsenic, mercury, and lead. The Aboriginal people of the area, the Jawoyn, have long called it “Sickness Country” – possibly due to these dangerous minerals causing illness. Mining operations pre-dated the founding of the national park, so when Kakadu was established in 1979, the mining land was excepted. Nowadays it’s winding down operations, but it still stuck out like an eyesore.

​Flying over Stone Country was like being in the establishing shot of a nature documentary. Beyond the scenic cliffs of the escarpment lay a vast metropolis of sandstone, carved into grids and cast with golden light. I glimpsed a small waterfall, almost hidden in the shadows. Even as we flew farther and farther across the Arnhem Plateau, the rocks still had no end in sight. I knew Kakadu was big, but seeing it first-hand was hard to comprehend.

​Eventually we turned around and started following the East Alligator River downstream into the floodplains. The river was lined with thick sandbars, all from eroded sandstone that washed downstream. 

We flew low and searched for crocs resting on the banks, didn’t see any. Regardless, it was majestic seeing the twists, turns, and tributaries of this muddy river from above.

​We flew over Arnhem Land, catching a glimpse of the green plains that we were denied earlier at Cahill’s Crossing. The pilot pointed out a few Aboriginal towns. During the wet season, both the river crossing and the airstrips are flooded, so Arnhem Land is completely cutoff from the outside world.

​The flight continued over the Magela Floodplain, an immense region of protected wetland. We were close enough to see details like flocks of white egrets and clusters of lily pads. The sunset was muffled by the clouds, but still amplified the beauty of the billabongs.

Smoke plumes wafted up from controlled burns in the surrounding bush, and we could see the glowing rings of their front lines.

​Before returning to the airport, the pilot did a lap around the town of Jabiru to show off its most famous building – the Mercure Crocodile Hotel – shaped like a giant crocodile. He also pointed out a manmade lake, intended as a swimming spot for the miners. They stopped using it when they realized it can be accessed by crocodiles during the wet season.

​Back at camp, we had a sausage and steak dinner in the kitchen tent, and played card games, including Go Fish and a silly one called Taco/Hat/Cake/Gift/Pizza. After the kids went to bed, the adults continued chatting over beers. There was a large school group at the adjacent campsite, but they were quieting down. On the walk to the bathroom, I made sure to stop and admire the stars. What an unforgettable day.

To end, here's some GoPro footage from the scenic flight, set to the only music that's suitable -- King Stingray's "Sweet Arnhem Land."