 Waterlily flourishes in the Kakadu wetlands |
Are there only two seasons in Northern Australia? No, there are six, say the Gagudju. Gunumeleng, for example, is the Build-up, the hot, expectant time of year around October, when the land seems to lay dormant waiting for the rains to break.
It is a time when most visitors shun the Top End. Yet there is no better time to to visit, for as the months pass, the shrinking billabongs and wetlands will become ever more crowded with browsing waterfowl, crocodiles submerged like floating logs and the occasional bird of prey, all jostling for survival in a habitat which dwindles daily.
Kakadu’s other great attractions are the works of the Gagadju people who for eons lived in harmony with this environment. Their rock art galleries reflect the passing of countless generations since the legendary Dreamtime; so many that even climatic changes have come and gone.
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