| Birding
On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry |
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Kakadu
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 Black-necked Stork at Kakadu |
The entrance to Kakadu National Park is not far north of Katherine. The entrance fee of AU$16.50 allows an adult to stay 7 days. It is very hot and very dry here in late August. The northern tip of Australia has two seasons: dry season , and the wet season which starts in January. During the annual "wet" roads flood and most of the park is inaccessible.
Afternoons at Kakadu are hot. Sit in the shade and move slowly. Mornings are cool and rather pleasant. In the evening it cools off quickly and you will probably sleep under a blanket. While it looks like a haven for biting insects I found very few mosquitoes. There are many small flies that do not bite but are very annoying. They try to fly into your mouth, nose and eyes. Soon you are giving the Australia salute,. waving your hand back and forth across your face to shoo off the flies.
In the Yellow Water area I stayed at the Gagudji Lodge and campground in Cooinda. The campground is rather expensive at AU$28 per night, but by this time you are willing to pay almost anything for a shady camp site.. They also have cabins and a restaurant.
I arrived in the early afternoon when it was too hot to do anything but sit in the shade and watch birds. Rainbow Bee-eater, White-throated Honeyeater, Rufous-banded Honeyeater, White Ibis, White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike, Varied Triller, Blue-faced Honeyeater.
Yellow River Boat Trip
The Yellow Water Boat Tours last 2 hours and depart all day long. The best two tours for birds are at 6:45 AM and 4:00 PM. I did both of these tours which cost AU$38 each.
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At 4 PM I took my first boat trip on the
Yellow-Water Billabong to Jim-Jim Creek on the Alligator River. There are no
alligators here only crocodiles. The flat-bottomed boats hold 50 people most of whom only want to see crocodiles. The guides knew their birds and tried to interest people in them because other than crocodiles the only other wildlife is birds. They actually seemed happy to have a bird watcher aboard and I was able to get them to stop and close in on the small Azure Kingfisher. This Forest Kingfisher(left) was perched near the boat dock. We also saw Sacred Kingfisher,Shining Flycatcher, and Restless Flycatchers on the trip. |
| The Salt-water Crocodile is more accurately called the
Estuarine Crocodile . They do live in freshwater and are very dangerous to
humans. You will see more than enough on the boat trip. Mostly they lie in the
sun like this big guy holding his mouth open to lose heat. You must also be wary when walking in other areas of the park especially where you see warning signs as the crocs can run very fast. |
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Kakadu National Park like most parks has been given to the Aborigines and leased back by the park service. Domestic cattle were introduced here by European settlers. Since the park was established they have been trying to remove the cows which now belong to the traditional owners. The idea behind returning traditional owners to the park lands is to allow the aborigines to live a traditional life-style. That does not include raising cattle. What problems lie down the road for the Australian national parks as the traditional owners recognize the value of the land. This is a view of the river bank showing cows grazing. Other problems mammals are feral pigs. |
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