After a breathtaking day snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, we said goodbye to our rental car in Cairns and flew to Darwin to continue our Australia Road Trip from there. One of the greatest adventures of the trip was ahead of us, as we planned to drive through the Red Centre of Australia. For this escapade we rented a 4wd camper and spent almost two weeks camping in the Outback, while visiting some of the most iconic Australian places. Our first stop was Kakadu National Park (map).
Kakadu is famous for many things, including the huge termite mounds in the southern part of the park. Termites are small social insects that build these extraordinary nests. The most common species in the Northern Territory is the cathedral termite (Nasutitermes triodiae). They are known for their skills at building “cathedrals”, that often reach 20 feet (6 m) in height.
Kakadu is an amazing place in the Northern Territory, that has been inhabited by humans for more than 50,000 years. Aboriginal people’s rock art provides a window into the past. Some of the paintings are up to 20,000 years old. They show the way of life of the region’s native residents and also the animals that lived here: kangaroos, fish, turtles and most interestingly the Tasmanian tiger, or Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). This is clear evidence that this carnivorous marsupial once lived across Australia, before it became extinct first from the mainland thousands of years ago, then in 1936 from Tasmania too, which was the Thylacine’s final resort from humans for a long time.
Kakadu is home to many bird species too. We saw and heard lots of them around our campground, however, the weather was so hot, most of the time I didn’t feel like exploring all the different habitats looking for birds. Nevertheless, one morning I found a female red-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) in the shade. The light started to get really harsh, but I managed to take some photos of this large parrot that is endemic to mainland Australia.
Our campsite was under the trees and at night we were able to observe some unique animals on them, such as flying foxes. They feed on fruits and don’t like to share their food with others. They are very vocal when it comes to defending their findings as we noticed one night, when a flying fox loudly tried to scare a small nocturnal marsupial away, that wanted to feed on the same tree. Probably the most famous resident of the park is the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). There are signs everywhere in the park to warn you about the danger. The saltwater crocodile is the largest living reptile, they can reach 20 ft (6m) in length, and they are the apex predators of the region. We found the salties at Cahills Crossing, one of the best and safest places to watch these ancient animals. We only discovered a small part of this huge national park due to the unbearably hot weather (at least for us Europeans/North Americans), we really enjoyed the few days we spent here. The wildlife images were taken with my Canon EOS 5Ds camera + my Canon 300mm f/4 lens + my 1.4x extender. I took all the other images with my Canon PowerShot G11 camera.
