Kakadu 1

Aug 19 to 28 At last we enter the Kakadu National Park, a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin. Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of 19,804 km2 (7,646 sq mi), extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west. It is the size of Slovenia, about one-third the size of Tasmania, or nearly half the size of Switzerland.

The name Kakadu comes from the mispronunciation of Gaagudju, which is the name of an Aboriginal language formerly spoken in the northern part of the park. Kakadu is ecologically and biologically diverse. The main natural features protected within the National Park include :
4 major river systems
the East Alligator River,
the West Alligator River,
the Wildman River; and
the entire South Alligator River;
6 major landforms
estuaries and tidal flats,
floodplains,
lowlands,
the stone country,
the outliers; and
the southern hills and basins;
A remarkable variety and concentration of wildlife;
over 280 bird species
roughly 60 mammal species
over 50 freshwater species
over 10,000 insects species
over 1,600 plant species.
Aboriginal people have occupied the Kakadu area continuously for at least 40,000 years. Kakadu National Park is renowned for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites. There are more than 5,000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years.