A DAY IN THE LIFE OF KAKADU

@olivertomberry

@chris_chen_

ASK the local Bininj and Mungguy people about Kakadu, and they’ll politely inform you that there’s no such place. It might sprawl over 7,646 square miles of the Northern Territory, but, to these peoples, the land now known as Kakadu is a patchwork of tribal territories. Since 1979, it’s been Australia’s largest national park; a land of red rock, sandstone, bushland and billabongs, not to mention towering termite mounds. It’s the essence of the Australian outback. Buffalo hunting, cattle farming and uranium mining have all been tried here; all have failed. For half the year, monsoons swamp the land; for the other half, it’s parched. Tiny Jabiru, a handful of shops, a gas station, and the park’s main office and rangers’ HQ, is the only town.

Following the rangers’ advice, I stock up on essentials in Jabiru: bottled water, bug repellent, emergency food, a bushman’s hat, a canister of spare petrol, and three extra cans of bug repellent in case I lose the first. Kakadu is unforgiving, and help can be hours away, so it pays to be prepared. Supplies safely stowed, I steer my 4WD south from Jabiru, heading for the remote bush camp of Cooinda. Tomorrow, my safari begins from here.

“Things always go real quiet when a croc’s nearby”

6.30AM

YELLOW WATER

The orchestra strikes up at