Kakadu National Park

Kakadu National Park, 171 km southeast of Darwin, is located within the Alligator Rivers region of the Northern Territory and covers an area of 1,980,400 ha (4,894,000 acres) extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres from east to west, approximately one-third the size of Tasmania. It is Australia's largest National Park and was declared in stages from 1979 onwards. It seems incongruous that the Ranger Uranium Mine, an open cut mine and one of the most productive sources of uranium in the world, is contained within the Park, but it pre-dated establishment of the Kakadu area as National Park. It is a requirement of the mining lease that when the mining is finished the hole will be back-filled with stored material to return the land to "original" condition. Jabiru, a small town within the Park, was originally created to provide accommodation and services for the mine employees. It remains as such, but now also provides high quality accommodation for the tourist - a very unusual situation for a National Park - and an enviable easy access to all areas of the Park, which abounds with natural beauty and wildlife.

Large crocodiles are abundant and very dangerous. All rivers and waterholes display signs warning of the dangers - the only guaranteed crocodile-free body of water in the Park is the Jabiru swimming pool!  

Aboriginal people have occupied the Kakadu area continuously for at least 40,000 years. Kakadu National Park is renowned for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites consisting of more than 5000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years. The archaeological sites demonstrate Aboriginal occupation for at least 20,000 and possibly up to 40,000 years.

The wikipedia entry for Kakadu National Park is here.

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