How do I make the most of my time in Kakadu?
June 25, 2009 6:00 PM 
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How can we make the most of our time in Kakadu National Park? We fly into Darwin on Friday July 10 around 3pm, and have an early flight out on the morning of July 15, so we'd need to be back in Darwin the night of the 14th. We'd like to spend as much of our time as possible seeing Kakadu.
I'm wondering whether a guided tour would be the best option, or whether we should rent a car and do a self-guided tour, with the exception of the Jim Jim falls, which I understand you need to go on a tour to see. We'd rather not spend the money on a 4WD hire.
I'd really appreciate any advice or experience, good or bad, that would help us make the most of our time in Kakadu. Thanks in advance for your help!
posted by Dasein to travel & transportation (1 comment total)
If you have such a short time and want to spend as much of it seeing Kakadu as you can, I think a tour is a better bet. I know they have 3-day tours and you could see about 4-day. Going on your own, how much time would you have to spend sorting out the rental, picking up and dropping off, deciding where to go, figuring out directions, preparing and packing meals, arranging accommodation, refueling, getting lost, etc.? I think it would take more of your time than you want and you'd wind up sort of settling for less out of necessity and likely some frustration.
Going with a small tour group, though, you just show up. Itinerary already mapped out, you don't have to worry about directions and the guide already knows his way. Meals are likely taken care of. You learn a lot you'd otherwise not know about the area and its wildlife and history. The whole thing is geared to let you enjoy yourself and leave the logistics behind. And while you'll surely go to places lots of other people have gone, a lot of it was (is?) so wild and remote that it really doesn't feel like hitting the tourist spots in a destination city or something. Our guide seemed to have a line on special out of the way spots, which we'd never have found on our own. So he was valuable, and he knew everything about the area and wildlife, another big plus.
One thing to note is that you'll be there in the dry season. While that's good for accessibility, some of the falls will be dried up. Others will be lessened, as will rivers. One of the places we went was Twin Falls, where we had to swim up a river a good ways on little inflatable swimming pool rafts past a pool where two freshwater crocs allegedly lived - that's the smaller kind. That was sort of scary, paddling through their living room but they supposedly didn't bother people. Could've been our guide having us on, I suppose. The falls weren't flowing hard but were still flowing and pretty and there was a huge green pool at the base where we swam and jumped off small cliffs. Has a white sand beach too. That was great. If the site I just read was right, you can't swim there anymore and now a boat shuttle takes you to the falls. Be wrong, site!
We did the jumping croc river tour, btw, but no crocs felt like jumping for meat that day. So be aware that has the potential to be a bust.
Another thing to think about is that the place should be in its peak season when you're there and so should be pretty crowded, relatively speaking. I think I was there in maybe June and somehow it wasn't packed at all - maybe it was before summer holiday season kicked in. But the falls we went to, for example, we were the only people there. From what I just read, however, it sounds like Twin Falls is pretty popular, is now more accessible, and in peak season would likely be busy. So in your self vs. tour considerations, I wonder if that's another vote for tour. A seasoned guide might know which congested spots to avoid whereas you with your tour book on your own likely would not. It would be something worth calling tour operators about.
Have a wonderful time. Australia is the coolest place on earth.
posted by kookoobirdz at 11:39 PM on June 25