Yellow Water Billabong is located at the end of Jim Jim Creek, a tributary of the South Alligator River. The South Alligator river system, which is the largest in the Park, contains extensive wetlands that include river channels, floodplains and backwater swamps.
Yellow Water Cruises provides you with a unique opportunity to experience this diverse and sublimely beautiful area and it's associated wildlife. The canopied cruise boats operate year round and are skippered by experienced guides.
About one third of Australia's bird species are represented in Kakadu National Park, with at least 60 species found in the wetlands. Whistling ducks and Magpie Geese are the most abundant.
The 1 1/2 hour cruise in the early morning or just before sunset rewards visitors with a dazzling light and colour show splashed across a primal wetland populated with story book creatures. During the wet season there is less wildlife but, by way of compensation, the leisurely boat cruise drifts through some of the most lavish, flooded-waterscapes to be seen anywhere in the world.
To further enhance the Yellow Water experience, many of the trained guides are local Aboriginal people whose lives are intertwined with this vast and productive landscape. Their lifelong relationship and interdependence with the area comes through in the information they provide during the cruises.
Six Yellow Water Cruises are conducted daily from April to October (dry season) which range from 1 1/2 to 2 hours duration. The first cruise departs at 6.45am, the last at 4.30pm. Four Cruises are conducted daily from November to March (wet season). All wet season cruises have a 1 1/2 hour duration. The first cruise departs at 8.30am, the last at 3.30pm. Cruise depart from Jim Jim.
About the Wetlands
Known as Ngurrungurrudjba by the people of the Murrumburr clan who own the area, Yellow Water Billabong is one of those memorable places where reality matches expectation. Perhaps this is not surprising as this locality (along with the surrounding wetlands in Kakadu) has been recognised as a Ramsar wetland. Ramsar is the name given to a list of the world's most important wetlands. This listing, along with its World Heritage status, points to Yellow Water as being one of Australia’s premier tourism experiences. Located at the junction of Jim Jim Creek and the South Alligator River, Yellow Water lies at the very heart of Kakadu.
Although lumped together under the blunt name of “wetlands” there are in fact many different ‘waterscapes’ to be seen in Kakadu. These include wide, open-water billabongs, undulating fields of semi-submerged grasslands and tall and dense flooded forests, dusted with fragrant flowers. In other areas, great swathes of water lilies vie for the attention of pollinating insects with large and showy flowers. Kakadu floodplains dry out forcing flocks of birds and numerous crocodiles to congregate on more permanent water bodies.
It is notable that, in contrast with so many wetlands around the world, Yellow Water (and Kakadu generally) are in excellent environmental health. They are mainly free from the problems which blight wetlands in other countries and elsewhere in Australia.
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