Kakadu National Park encompasses a highly specialized landscape with many unusual species that have adapted to its extreme seasonal changes. Owned by the Aborigines but managed by the Australian government, the parkland surrounds a functioning uranium mine and pressure is growing to open more mines, which could put the local environment at high risk from toxic pollution.
Freshwater crocodiles are mild mannered and relatively harmless; it is the vicious saltwater ones you have to worry about. But despite the name, saltwater crocodiles mainly live in fresh water, and you’ll see both kinds lurking in the rivers and lagoons of Kakadu National Park.
Contradictions like this are what make Kakadu so fascinating. Located in the less touristy Northern Territories, Australia’s largest national park is also technically Aborigine land. The government converted it to parkland to give the Aborigines an alternative to their traditional livelihood of rising water buffaloes, which had overgrazed the land for centuries.
This is one destination where it really pays off to have a guide. Kakadu’s habitats range from bushland and wetlands to stony escarpment and pockets of monsoon forest, from red cliffs and waterfalls to lush lagoons, each with its own panoply of rare plants to identify.
