Kakadu National Park

Visiting Kakadu is extremely dependent on the weather. This part of Australia has two distinct seasons - wet and dry - and much of the national park is inaccessible during the wet season. As the dry begins, different parts of the park open up at different times, as the unsealed roads become passable and areas are cleared of crocodiles. I mention all of this at the start just as advice for anyone thinking of visiting - make sure you think about when you're going and what you'll be able to see. (For the record, wet season can be quite incredible because the waterfalls are in full flow, but you may want to see them by helicopter, rather than road, for instance.)

I visited in dry season, when most things were accessible, and spent three nights in Kakadu. I felt like that was just the right amount of time - anything shorter and I would've left feeling like I had missed things. I certainly could've stayed longer and visited even more parts of the park, but I think I covered all of the main elements.

The landscapes change a lot throughout the park because it's so big (about the size of Slovenia). There are areas of dramatic sandstone escarpments, expansive wetlands full of birds, as well as lots of woodland. You'll get more out of the visit if you're able to experience this variety, and some highlights are stone country at Burrungkuy (Nourlangie), wetlands at Yellow Water, and the …

You will notice that renting a car in Darwin gives you a grand total of 100km to drive per day unless you want to fork out lots of money. Doing the math I think it's only worth renting and driving all the way to Kakadu if you are 3 people or more or actually do more things on the way. Just going to Kakadu and back as a daytrip is not gonna work. Luckily they have an affordable bus trip that picks you up bright and early (it's not early-early like a "daytrip" to Jordan from Sinai or something silly...) and drops you back at ~8pm so this isn't actually bad at all. I even took a flight out the same evening and got dropped off at the turn-off so I can grab an Uber to the airport just 10 minutes away. The coach is also super comfy with toilet and aircon etc.

The visit via this trip only covers around 1% of what the park really has to offer but I think that's normal for a park this size. The roads are really good but there is not much off-roading. This tour also obviously doesn't visit any waterfalls in the south.

The first stop is gonna be the the rock art. It's really nice although I have to wonder about the modern one. It does follow the same style but I think that when aboriginals painted these ages ago that's an achievement but if an artist does …

In my opinion, Kakadu National Park is one of Australia's most impressive sites. Home to ancient culture, gorgeous natural scenery, and a colossal variety of plants and animals, there's a lot to love about Kakadu. We visited the park over three days in June 2016, which gives you ample time to explore the various areas.

To reach Kakadu, your best option is to drive in from Darwin - a roughly 2 hour, 150km drive. It's best to go during dry season (May-October) as this is also the coolest time of year. Wet season from November-April is hotter, stickier and of course wetter: many roads in Kakadu will be flooded and impassable.

Aboriginal Australians have lived in Kakadu for around 50,000 years, and it's the oldest continuous culture on earth. Locals today can look at ancient rock paintings and understand the stories as if they were painted yesterday. The best rock art in Kakadu is found at both Ubirr and Burrunguy (formerly Nourlangie Rock), where you'll find a lot of interesting stuff: animals, humans, and spiritual art like the Rainbow Serpent who created the world during the Dreamtime. Ubirr Rock is also a mesmerising place for sunset.

For bird-watching, Yellow Waters Billabong near Cooinda is the best place. A great option here is to grab a sunrise or sunset boat tour - we managed to do both and preferred the sunrise tour as we saw more, though this is probably dependent on luck and the skill of your …

I had the great opportunity to travel from the University of Melbourne all the way to Kakadu with a group of uni students. We hiked up Jim Jim Falls for 5 days. The experience was unforgettable, as we camped under the stars only in our sleeping bags (lugging tents while hiking up the falls was not an option). I truly felt at peace, spending my days swimming and hiking. This is a heritage site not to be missed!

Even though I was in Kakadu only for two days, I enjoyed it a lot. This place is immensely fascinating and truly deserves its place on the WH list. The wildlife is great - yes, you can easily spot crocodiles -, the flora stunning, and the rock carvings and paintings add another interesting feature as well. I was there during rainy season, you could hardly go anywhere without a boat, and it was raining most of the time, but still this is one of my favorite places in Australia, if not the world. I hope that Kakadu will remain the wild place it is now, since I have heard that UNESCO has reprimanded Australia for allowing mining to continue in the park.

I visited Kakadu in early April, and it was still very wet. It had rained extensively over the past months, and most of the roads were closed due to flooding. Only the two main roads through the park, the Arnhem Highway from Darwin east to Jabiru and the Kakadu Highway from Jabiru south to Pine Creek, were open. It was still raining slightly during the two days I spent in the park. Fortunately, two of the best things to do in the park are open in the wet season too: Nourlangie Rock and the Yellow Water Cruise.

Nourlangie Rock is located a few km from the main Kakadu Highway. The road to it is sealed, and it leads up to the large sandstone escarpment that cross-sects the park – so it is accessible all year round. There are a couple of short hikes you can do here. I did the loop walk, which takes you past the various rock paintings. Their setting is similar to those at Bhimbetka in India, which I saw earlier on this RTW trip: they are under overhanging rocks or rock shelters. The quality of the paintings is pretty spectacular, and the images are different from rock art elsewhere in the world. Of course, they display typical Australian animals like kangaroos. Several of the paintings are large images of aboriginal spiritual beings. There’s also “contact art”: paintings made after contact with European explorers, for example in the form of a gun.

The Yellow Water …

I had the great opportunity to travel from the University of Melbourne all the way to Kakadu with a group of uni students. We hiked up Jim Jim Falls for 5 days. The experience was unforgettable, as we camped under the stars only in our sleeping bags (lugging tents while hiking up the falls was not an option). I truly felt at peace, spending my days swimming and hiking. This is a heritage site not to be missed!

I only spent a few days in Kakadu, but I wish I could have spent a month. This is a truly beautiful place, that should be a must for all visitors to northern Australia.

Even though I was in Kakadu only for two days, I enjoyed it a lot. This place is immensely fascinating and truly deserves its place on the WH list. The wildlife is great - yes, you can easily spot crocodiles -, the flora stunning, and the rock carvings and paintings add another interesting feature as well. I was there during rainy season, you could hardly go anywhere without a boat, and it was raining most of the time, but still this is one of my favorite places in Australia, if not the world. I hope that Kakadu will remain the wild place it is now, since I have heard that UNESCO has reprimanded Australia for allowing mining to continue in the park.