The floodplains were bustling with honking geese and whistling ducks only a couple of months ago. But the heat of Gurrung, hot weather time, has been unforgiving, drying up the mud, turning large areas into quiet, parched, dusty, and inhospitable flats.

The water levels in the creeks and billabongs dropped considerably, the tidal sections of Kakadu’s rivers sporting huge sandbanks and steep muddy banks during low tide, and even the permanent waterfalls in the stone country slowed down to a trickle.

It’s been a very long and very hot dry season in the heart of Kakadu National Park. The hot conditions have carried on well into Gunumeleng, the pre-monsoon season. Not a single drop of rain fell in October and temperatures rose to 37 to 40 C each day. Officially 1 October marks the start of the tropical wet season.

The hot weather lasted for the entire month of November also, the month’s mean maximum temperature of 38.8 C lies well above the long-term average of 36.8 C for the Jabiru region. The South Alligator Floodplain saw only a few violent storms in the late afternoons and the weather station at Jabiru Airport registered some half-decent rainfall only on 2 occasions and a total of only 31mm for the month of November.

Electrical storm during Gunumeleng

But things are about to change, Gunumeleng is the season of dark clouds brewing in the afternoon, of violent electrical storms with hundreds of lightning strikes over night.

With the rains of Gunumeleng arriving, few and far between at first, the different habitats of Kakadu come back to life: Swarms of winged termite nymphs leaving their mounds after a shower, trees developing fresh green foliage, the native spear grass sprouting and rolling out a bright-green carpet, the wildlife making an appearance again.

Inquisitive Pheasant Coucal

The call of the Pheasant Coucals (Centropus phasianinus) can be heard again.
Bininj call these birds “Bukbuk” (pronounced: book-book), a name that describes their call rather well! These tail-heavy birds can be seen in areas with dense understorey and in monsoonal thickets near creeks, usually running off or flying very low trying to escape from view. Unlike other members of the cuckoo family these birds aren’t parasitic and they’re now breeding, hiding from predators in dense grass or under shrubs and bushes.

Among the trees fruiting now are the Red Bush Apples (Syzygium suborbiculare) and the Green Plums (Buchanania oblongata), both much sought after by Bininj. These little green plums are one of my favourite bushtucker, too! Bininj call these fruits “Mandudjmi” or “Manmoyi” and they’re at their sweet and juicy best when they have just fallen to the ground and are slightly soft to touch.

Boh boh!
Anja

Green plums

Things are heating up in the Top End!

The first few days of September saw the day time temperatures soar to 38 degrees in Jabiru, the small township in Kakadu National Park. But it sure feels a lot hotter walking in one of the sandstone gorges around 3 o’clock in the afternoon!

Gurrung (August – September) is Hot Weather Time, dry winds from the inland parch the bushland and dry out the floodplains. Waterbirds flock to the remaining waterholes, Magpie Geese in their thousands feed on water chestnuts in the shallow billabongs and floodplains.

If you’re a keen birdwatcher, the floodplain is the place to be!
Do yourself a favour and stop at Mamukala, approximately 30km west of Jabiru. Just 1km off the Arnhem Highway, it’s only a short walk from the car park down to the bird observation deck.

Just a few days ago this wetland area was buzzing with Wandering and Plumed Whistling Ducks, Magpie Geese, Purple Swamp Hens, Comb-crested Jacanas, Radjah Shell Ducks, Pied Herons, Egrets of all sizes — even a few Pelicans we spotted in the distance!

In the woodlands and the stone country, animal life is somewhat subdued — it’s just way too hot to be out and about…

But if you’re planning to go exploring regardless of the hot conditions, please make sure you go well prepared:

- Make sure your are suitably dressed in loose-fitting clothing that is cool but provides protection against sunburn.

- Wear a wide-brimmed hat that’s not too hot and heavy.

- Leave your flimsy beach sandals or thongs (you might call them “flip-flops”)  in the car and rather wear walking shoes with good grip and ankle support.

- Wherever you go, carry plenty of drinking water!
Expect to drink between 4 and 8 litres of water a day in these hot conditions.
A minimum of 2 litres per person should be carried for short walks.

Dehydration
Among the early symptoms of dehydration are feeling thirsty, headache, dizziness and nausea. If the symptoms continue, seizures, loss of consciousness, and even death can be the result.
Children are at particular risk!

Don’t wait until you feel thirsty! Don’t try to play catch-up!
Re-hydration in this climate is hard — stay hydrated and have a great time!

Boh boh
Anja

Yegge has arrived!

The dry season is here with its cool mornings and blue skies! Nighttime temperatures have been dropping as low as 22 deg Celsius for over a week now.

The other morning I was driving through the South Alligator floodplain, right on sunrise. The sun was coming up right behind me, the mist was hovering just above the grass where the Magpie geese are nesting at the moment — the colours were absolutely magical!

What a shame I didn’t bring my camera!

Overlooking the Nardab Floodplain

I didn’t leave home without my camera yesterday afternoon though, when I took visitors up to Ubirr, I just knew we were in for one of those glorious Yegge sunsets!

Yegge is the time of year we associate with deliberately lit grass fires and smoke haze giving a sunset over the Nardab floodplain that special touch.
No need to call the firies, it’s all under control!

Bininj people were taught by their ancestors how to cleanse the country by using fire, which over time has created a landscape of unmatched diversity. Species resistant to these low-intensity burn-offs have evolved over the millennia and survive early dry season fires unharmed.

Although fires may be lit late in the dry season when Bininj go hunting in the floodplains, most of the fires are lit earlier in the year, starting in Yegge. During April, May and into June the soil is still moist and the humidity is dropping only slowly after the wet season.
While the speargrass has already started to die off, most of the woodland vegetation is still lush, fires that are lit in the afternoon go out overnight. Yes, some of the smaller trees might lose their foliage — but they will recover and show off new green within a few weeks.

The early morning dew of Yegge delivers enough moisture for seeds to germinate and saplings to grow in those freshly burnt areas.
Wallabies and other animals flock to these places — easy game for the experienced hunter!

There are many reasons for lighting bushfires in Kakadu. Bininj and park rangers carry on with the ancient technique of mosaic burning, which was traditionally used to flush out animals for hunting, to make hiking easier and to “cleanse the country“, rid the woodlands off dead timber and plant matter that could potentially fuel hot and disastrous bushfires towards the end of the year, after a long and hot dry season.

Fires are a part of Kakadu’s “cultural landscape”. There’s a lot more to be said about Aboriginal fire management in Kakadu — and it’s always a topic on our dry season tours, you guessed it!

Looking After Country

Boh boh!
Anja

The native speargrass is standing tall, 3 metres plus in many places!

Speargrass in the Savannah Woodlands of Kakadu

In the savannah woodlands the speargrass is turning from lush-green to dry-golden nuances, while the seeds are change to a ripe dark-brown colour — ready to be ripped off the stalks by the last violent storms of Bangerreng, the outgoing tropical wet season the local Aboriginal people refer to as harvest time.

The dragonflies have been out in force for weeks and Yamitj, the little green katydid with the ear-piercing call can be heard every night.

The magpie geese are nesting in the flood plains, barramundi and black bream are biting (well, they’re supposed to be biting during the run-off…), Kakadu plums are plump and start dropping off the trees.

While the coastal communities around the Top End still experience afternoon storms and gusty sea breezes, it’s been pretty dry out here in Jabiru! For the last 5 days we haven’t received any rainfall, the sky is blue, the humidity has dropped.

But don’t be fooled, I’m sure we’ll hear Namarrgon’s (Lightning Man), thunder again soon, before Yegge, the start of the dry season is upon us!

Boh boh
Anja