Rare animals and prehistoric petroglyphs in Kakandu National Park, Australia
One of the top attractions in Australia is located in the northern part of the country. Endless expanses of vegetation, impressive wetlands, rare animals and prehistoric rock paintings compose a natural paradise of 4,894,000 acres. The Kakadu National Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981 and has pretty much the size of Slovenia.
It hosts Uranium Ranger Mine, one of the most productive uranium mines in the world. The visitor can closely observe the endemic birds of Australia and the migratory birds of Siberia and Japan, which spend part of their time in the water paradise.
It is worth discovering the greatness of nature by boating in the wetlands of Yellow Water Billabong. The park is home to 280 species of birds, two thousand species of plants and more than 10 thousand crocodiles.
Kakadu is a vibrant cultural landscape for the Indigenous peoples of Australia which is the oldest civilization on the planet. In the park one can see up close the prehistoric Aboriginal rock paintings that some date from 10,000 BC. Kakadu's rock art (gunbim) represents one of the longest historical records of any group of people in the world. It is also one of the reasons Kakadu has received World Heritage status. The paintings provide a fascinating record of Aboriginal life over thousands of years. This is one of the longest historical records of any group of people in the world.
For aboriginal people, art is an expression of cultural identity and connection to country. Generally, the act of painting was more important than the painting itself so many older paintings have been covered by more recent paintings: the artist was not concerned about preserving an image for posterity but simply wanted to paint to tell a story.
For Bininj/Mungguy many of the older paintings were done by spirit people. These form a continuous link with traditional beliefs about how the landscape was formed and Aboriginal laws established. The rock art also provides an insight in to Bininij/Mungguy culture by showing objects, animals and activities familiar to people today.
There are also many archaeological sites in Kakadu that reflect how Bininj/Mungguy have managed the country over thousands of years. Sites include occupation deposits in rock shelters, quarries where stone material was extracted and processed for tool making, human burial sites, stone or bone arrangements, surface scatters of stone, and earth and shell mounds.
