Kakadu National Park is an attraction for tourists visiting Australia. This national park is located in the Northern Territory, not very far from Darwin. You can spot all kinds of animals here, such as salt water crocodiles, but also more than 280 species of birds. This park has become especially famous for the various Aboriginal rock paintings that can be found here. These petroglyphs are over 20,000 years old and are considered some of the better preserved Aboriginal rock art. To visit the park it is normally easiest to go by boat.
Table of contents
- General information about Kakadu national park
- Aboriginal people in and near Kakadu
- Flora of the park
- Fauna of the park
- Other sights of Kakadu
- Human influences
General information about Kakadu national park
Kakadu national park consists of four different major rivers. In addition, it consists of six large tracts of land and a large concentration of game. The four rivers are:
- East alligator river
- West alligator river
- Wildman river
- South alligator river
These rivers are home to a varied life. Crocodiles and water birds live in this river, but kangaroos and wallabies also come to drink. In addition, there are approximately 10,000 species of insects, 1,700 species of plants and there are enormous rocks. The six large pieces of land all look different, there is a piece that mainly consists of rocks, but there is also a piece that consists almost exclusively of wetland.
Aboriginal people in and near Kakadu
What this park is mainly known for are the rock paintings that the Aboriginal people made between 40,000 and 5,000 years ago. Especially the petroglyphs that are older than 20,000 years are very famous, because they are relatively well preserved and are considered among the best preserved. The best preserved rock carvings have even been found in Nourlangie. Besides the fact that the rock carvings were made here, this is also an important place for Aboriginal people.
The history here for the Aboriginal people was quite complicated. They had to deal with Europeans trying to trade quite early on. As more and more explorers arrived, two missionary posts were also established. This was to ensure that the Aboriginals began to believe in Christianity. These posts were established around 1895 and became more and more important. More and more Aboriginal people went to the posts and were educated at a young age. After a while the two posts both closed again. Even though they closed again, the Aboriginal people were different, they had changed. In addition to the fact that they had met missionaries, there were also people who took their territory through violence. When the digging for gold finally began in 1920, followed by the digging for uranium in 1953, there were very few Aboriginal people left.
Flora of the park
The flora of Kakadu national park is very varied. More than 1,700 species of plants have been spotted, including tall grasses, freshwater mangroves and long river plains. These river plains are places where several rivers flow together and they ensure that it is all wet. A completely different flora grows here than in the forests of Kakadu national park. The place where most endemic plants are found is on the southern hills. The well-known Eucalyptus is an endemic tree, just like the Pandanus.
Fauna of the park
The park is home to 74 species of mammals , most of which are nocturnal. There are some mammals that live during the day or at dusk, but these are mainly kangaroos and wallabies. There are several species of kangaroos and wallabies in the park, including the antelope kangaroo. A kangaroo that normally does not grow larger than 140 centimeters. In addition to these marsupials, other marsupials also live in the park, such as the pygmy quoll, the tafa and the large short-nosed marsupial. In addition to these walking mammals, there are also flying ones such as the Black Flying Fox” for which we have no name in Dutch.
As for birds