Jim Jim Falls is a popular place to go. These magnificent falls cascade down from a height of m and thunder into the plunge pool below. Twin Falls Situated 10 km past Jim Jim Falls, the Twin Falls are entrenched in the Arnhem land escarpment and cast a pretty backdrop against the scenic walks surrounding the area. Two huge falls cascade m down the cliff face into a deep pool.
During the dry season you can get right under the falls and swim in the pool below. Maguk Gorge A snorkellers dream, Maguk gorge is home to a vibrant array of marine life and is easily accessible for the less experienced adventurer.
The water is jade green, with the high gorge sides providing shade over the water. Confident swimmers can swim to the far side of pool where the falls trickle in the dry season and provide swimmers with a great shoulder massage.
Gunlom Falls Perhaps the most spectacular swimming spot in Kakadu, Gunlom Falls is the perfect place to cool down in the scorching heat. At the foot of the falls is a delightful large plunge pool, surrounded by serene bushland.
For those spending an afternoon, take a short climb to the top of the waterfall where you will be gobsmacked by the panoramic views sweeping across the horizon. Rock Art Galleries. The rock art in Kakadu National Park is of significant international and cultural significance. With paintings up to 20, years old these artworks are some of the longest historical records of any group of people on Earth.
Paintings allowed people to express their stories, and some paintings could only be painted by people with the right knowledge. For example, only those who held magical knowledge could paint about sorcery. The paintings in Kakadu share a fascinating history of Aboriginal life and society over thousands of years. Aboriginal people lived here in the wet season, where they could harvest plants and hunt for goanna, fish, mussels and birds.
The shelter kept them from getting wet, and the large flat rocks were used as grinding holes, likely used to prepare food and create ochres for painting. Here you will see paintings of creation ancestors including Namarrgon, the Lighting man.
Nanguluwurr Just a 1. This small gallery contains depictions of ancestral beings and animals. The Southern Hills and Basins - The southern extremity of the park is characterised by undulating hills and basins covered in low lying woodland with large areas of harsh stony country.
The Best Time To Visit It is generally accepted that the best time to visit the park is at the end of the dry season when the birds are forced to congregate in the ever-diminishing wetland waterholes. This makes visits to the waterholes an unforgettable experience for bird watchers. During the dry season there is still selective burning off of the bush in Kakadu which can mean that parts of the park are smudged by smoke. In the wet season large areas of the park are closed to the public. The South Alligator River is the first river visitors experience when they enter the park from Darwin.
The river is rich with local wildlife and it is common to see buffalo, jabiru, cockatoos, white egrets, magpie geese and whistler ducks. The South Alligator River is home to nearly all the magpie geese in Australia during the dry season. One survey found over , birds in a relatively small area of the floodplain. It is a bird hide and is located only metres from the car park. The Observation Point has a shaded platform from where it is possible to observe the birdlife on the edge of the wetlands.
The observation point has wall charts to help the visitor identify the bird species on the lake. There is also a 3 km hours easy walk beside the wetlands. This, too, is ideal for observing the birdlife. Jabiru Jabiru, a mining settlement, is the one town in Kakadu National Park. It is named after the First Nation word for a large native bird sometimes known as the black-necked stork or the 'policeman-bird'.
In uranium was discovered at Ranger in Arnhem Land. The following year more uranium was discovered at Jabiluka. For the next decade a debate raged over whether the uranium should be mined. In a Commonwealth Commission of Inquiry into mining at Ranger was established. In it was agreed that mining could go ahead with substantial royalties being paid to the Northern Land Council.
The following year the Northern Land Council approved uranium mining at Jabiluka however the Commonwealth Government was not happy about the situation. Today only the Ranger Uranium Mine is in operation. The town was created in to house workers at the Ranger Uranium Mine. Today the town has a range of services, the famous Gagadju Crocodile Inn a hotel in the shape of a crocodile , a busy town plaza, extensive leisure facilities for the residents most of whom are mine workers and even a Community Cyclone Shelter.
The area is prone to some of the wildest and worst of the weather during "The Wet". In it experienced nearly mm of rain in a three month period and the road to Darwin was cut off for weeks. Ubirr There is an excellent downloadable brochure on Ubirr. There used to be a sign at Ubirr which explained very clearly the attitude of both the National Parks Rangers and the traditional owners: "Ubirr is an Aboriginal rock art site of international status.
Its also of great significance to its Aboriginal owners with whose advice and approval material in this display has been prepared. We ask you to observe two simple rules: i follow directional signs and keep to defined walking paths and ii do not touch painted surfaces under any circumstances. Penalties may be imposed for interference with such sites. The indigenous rangers give talks during the day and explain the paintings.
Ubirr is one of the finest displays of Aboriginal rock paintings available to the public anywhere in the Northern Territory. When non-Aboriginal people arrived in the Kakadu area, our Aboriginal population decreased markedly.
Many people died of disease or moved off their land to towns and settlements. The reduced population and the introduction of vehicles and shops have changed our traditional seasonal movements.
We are able to base ourselves in an outstation or town and use vehicles to shop, to visit different outstations, to attend ceremonies and to move about the country on hunting trips.
About 2, people lived in the Kakadu area before the arrival of non-Aboriginal people. Now there are about Aboriginal people living in 18 outstations dotted throughout the park. It was a time when Australians were becoming more interested in declaring national parks for conservation and in recognising the land interests of Aboriginal people. The name Kakadu was suggested to recognise Gagudju, an Aboriginal language which used to be spoken in the park.
In , he saw his dream realised when Koongarra Kunkarra became part of Kakadu, protecting it forever. Koongarra Kunkarra lies in the shadow of Burrungkuy Nourlangie rock — if you pause at the lookout to marvel at the view, you are looking at Koongarra Kunkarra. The Park is listed on the World Heritage List for both natural and cultural values.
It covers almost the entire catchment of a major tropical monsoonal river system. With its large size, wide range of ecosystems, its habitats with rare and threatened biota, its beauty and ancient but living culture, it is recognised as Australia's most significant National Park.
The numerous cave paintings, rock carvings and archaeological sites which record the skills and way of life of the region's inhabitants, are a unique artistic achievement, which provide an outstanding record of Aboriginal interaction with the environment over 50, years ANPWS, It also contains extensive Ramsar wetland sites. Aboriginal people have occupied this landscape as travelling hunter-gatherers for 50, years, endowing it with sacred attributes which are still respected.
Excavated sites have revealed evidence of the earliest human settlement in Australia, the world's oldest evidence of edge-ground axes and pieces of ochre used for painting 25, years old.
The Park contains many sacred sites of religious significance, some 1, archaeological sites of Aboriginal culture and an estimated 15, rock art sites in a number of styles in richly decorated caves concentrated along the Arnhem Land escarpment, some dating back 18, years which record animal species no longer present ANPWS, ; Gillespie, The overhung rock of Ubirr is a well known site of this art, to which men continued to add even in the 20 th century.
European discovery was by the Dutch in and British exploration reached the area in and , and in there was a local gold rush Pyers, Persecution and forced assimilation of the Aboriginal people followed until the constitutional referendum of The latter, approximately people of about 16 clans, live in about ten locations in the park. These also include the Mirrar traditional owners and other Aboriginals with recognised social and traditional attachments to the area who may stay, and where necessary, establish new living areas and exercise their rights to traditional uses.
This recognition of Aboriginal title to land dates back to a commission of enquiry into their land rights in the Northern Territory in relation to the lease on the Ranger uranium mine.
These sites were at Ranger and Jabiluka, 20 km north, in the northeast, and at Koongarra in the southern headwaters of the South Alligator River. It has a population of about 1, and was to be limited, but the added incentive of tourism has created pressure to expand it ANPWS, There are as many foreign visitors as Australians, at least half of all visitors coming on organised tours. Numbers, estimated at 47, in and , in , were said to be , in Pyers, There are two visitor centres.
Many people are attracted by the Aboriginal culture and art on which talks are regularly given. A range of accommodation is available within the Park and there are a number of camp sites and picnic areas.
A number of airstrips suitable for light planes are available both inside and outside the Park. ANPWS, Research, surveys, monitoring and rehabilitation programs in the Park have focused on both the natural and cultural heritages: on wildlife, vegetation, water quality, fire, problem weeds and feral animals; rock art and archaeological sites, Aboriginal knowledge, oral history, use of plants and satisfaction as residents; visitor use and impacts; and Park information systems.
Monitoring is still discovering new species, and mapping of the plant communities most vulnerable to fire is also important. The Office of the Supervising Scientist also operates a research station in the Park, monitoring especially pollution.
In the Native Title Act recognised that native title could coexist with other rights on the same land. In the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act recognised the role of Aboriginal sustainable practices. The result in Kakadu has been the acceptance of the local people as participants in the governing process through five associations and their representatives.
Ten of the fourteen members of the Kakadu Board of Management are Aboriginal people nominated by the traditional owners of Park lands, to ensure that the Service is aware of Aboriginal perspectives on park planning and management, and expects them to participate in them. This regime of joint management is an admired model both at home and abroad, though publicly challenged for its limits on tourism by the Northern Territory government ANPWS, The Park is divided into four zones of increasing sensitivity with appropriate policies for each.
Site-specific plans for a number of visitor destinations in the Park provide for their responsible management. Active management ensures that minimal damage is caused by weeds, feral animals, fire, tourism and other human uses such as mining, especially in the southeast, and over roadside gravel extraction pits which are being rehabilitated. Weed control continues with a successful Mimosa pigra control program.
The Commonwealth Government also supports a program outside the Park to prevent invasion from nearby infestations. Management of Salvinia molesta is high priority. There has been a program to eradicate introduced feral, water buffalo as part of the national brucellosis and tuberculosis eradication programme.
The effects of mining are monitored, but not regulated, by the Office of the Supervising Scientist. The main past cause of natural environmental degradation has been the water buffalo, which damaged the native vegetation and caused erosion. However, these have been reduced from 20, in to less than and this population is being controlled.
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