Kakadu is a World Heritage National Park, and was established in stages from 1981 to 1992. Being over 20,000 square kilometres in size this makes the park the second largest national park in the world. The park, easily accessible on a sealed road approximately 250 kilometres from Darwin is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the Northern Territory with over 200,000 visitors annually.
It was listed for its natural and cultural value as it contains a whole tropical river catchment system, the ocean marine area, several islands and five major landform types, numerous wildlife species and many examples of human significance in the form of cave paintings, rock carvings and cultures.
The park contains huge sandstone plateaux and towering escarpments which contain many caves and create waterfalls and cascades. Lowlands and floodplains, which are covered with water in the wet but leave numerous billabongs in the dry. Tidal flats, mudflats, estuaries and rivers, and in the southern region dry rocky sandstone hills. This all creates many diverse habitats for 280 bird species, 60 native mammals and 132 reptiles and countless insects. The area is also a major staging point for migratory birds.
With such fantastic scenic beauty and wildlife abounding everywhere, the area still has many Aboriginal sites to keep you interested. At Nourlangie Rock, south of Jabiru, there are cave sites and rock paintings. At Ubirr there is more rock art as this was a living area close to abundant food sources from the South Alligator River and surrounds. With so much to see and do, take some good walking shoes and get going. It is advisable not to swim in the billabongs, the area has many crocodiles.
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