Kakadu National Park: Day 1

The highlight of my two weeks in Cairn and Darwin, was the three day tour of Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks, Ruth and I took with Connections Travel.

Day 1 started when we were picked up from our B&B and we were driven out to Kakadu National Park. Before reaching the Park we stoped at a billabong for a boat trip to see the crocs. Our guide was a slightly eccentric man, who was very knowledgeable about the wildlife and vocal in his dislike for TV crocodile hunter Steve Irwin.

We saw freshwater and salt water or estuarine crocs, including this four and a half meter monster:
We also saw water buffalo and plenty of birds including jabiru, ducks and others I can't remember the name of. Our guide very bravely put his hand over the side of the boat to pick a lily and take this wonderful photo:

After the billabong we drove into the National Park, stopping to view some termite mounds along the way:

At over three and a half meters tall this termite mound is about 35 years old. Incredibly they survive bush fires during the dry season and being submerged by water for a couple of months a year during the wet season.

Our final activity on Day 1 was a visit to Ubirr to see some Aboriginal rock art. I'm not the biggest fan of Aboriginal art, but it was interesting to hear from our guide the different phases Aboriginal art has been through (a bit like the classics, impressionism, cubism etc..) and how they have been used for teaching.

From the top of Ubirr there were some dramatic and sweeping views of the National Park. Instead of which I will give you a photo of me in my new bush hat:

We spent the night at a campsite in Jabiru. Connections had a number of permanent tents at the campsite, as well as a kitchen and open air dining room. Coupled with the swimming pool and hot water showers it meant we weren't exactly roughing in.

Over the next couple of days I'll blog about, Kakadu Day 2 and Litchfield National Park.

You can also see my Darwin photos here.