Lenka's Safari Report

Last month was the date of the long-awaited Rotary-organised Northern Territory Safari.
All 19 youth exchange students and 2 chaperones – met in Melbourne and flew into Darwin, where we spent two nights.
One morning was spent in the Crocosaurus Cove, where we held a snake and a baby crocodile and saw some truly massive adult ones. They assured us the baby crocodile was safe; it really was quite tiny, and had its mouth taped shut to boot, but they did tell us that if its mouth hadn’t been taped, it would have had little problem taking off one of our fingers. Also, its name was Fluffy. Fun!

Another day, we walked to the harbour to swim in the lagoon and to visit a combined WWII Darwin bombings and Royal Flying Doctor Service museum. I had already heard that Darwin got bombed during WWII, but apparently plenty of people hadn’t. Between that and the cyclones, it seems to be a testament to the locals’ tenacity and/or sentimentality that Darwin is still standing.
 
Afterwards, we got a little bit of free time, but it seemed a bit pointless, because it was after 5 pm and nothing is apparently open in Darwin at that time; not even many restaurants or takeout places. I struggle to imagine what one might do if they were feeling too lazy to cook dinner. In any case, we managed to fill out the time by going into a Coles and getting some snacks, which would prove useful for later long bus journeys.
 
The accommodation was the last time we would sleep under a solid roof for about a week; though I must say I slept better under the open sky than in there, partially because the aircon was on the entire night – not because we decided to leave it on, but because the room had explicit instructions to leave it on lest the room starts molding (I suppose that’s the humid tropical climate for you). This meant that the entire night I was freezing despite it being around 25°C outside and the constant squeaking (?) of the aircon kept me up; I hadn’t known aircon could squeak before that night, but I doubt I will forget the fact now. Combined with a sign that cautioned against leaving “extremely smelly” shoes in the hallway (which I personally found hilarious) and the faint smell of weed suffusing our room, it really completed an atmosphere. I think it can safely be described as a very authentic backpackers’ experience.
 
After waking up after some restless sleep the next day, we drove down to Litchfield. The hike through the park was nice, and the opportunity to bathe at the waterfalls at the end of it especially. They were pleasantly cool after the sun beat down on us for so long, but they weren’t too freezing either. One of our two guides, Rick, showed off his local knowledge by pointing out plants and other things along the way. For example, he showed us some green ant nests. It was interesting to see the way they’re woven together, and we even licked some ants to test that they truly do taste sour – apparently, they’re a pretty good source of vitamin C!
 
On the way to Kakadu that afternoon, we also stopped to look at some magnetic termite nests. The nests may or may not actually be magnetic; the reason they got the name is because they’re all tall and flat and point north to south. They do this in order to thermoregulate the nest, because this shape reduces the amount of sunlight they receive. The rows upon rows of tall flat grey shapes sort of makes it look like a graveyard.
 
The next day, we went on a cruise on the Corroboree Billabong. We saw lots of interesting animals; particularly birds, which the other students didn’t seem too interested by but I got some nice shots of, and obviously crocodiles. We saw both freshwater and saltwater; apparently they can both live in the same water. I got some very nice photos of a certain soaring raptor, and was therefore later a bit disappointed when I discovered it was an incredibly common black kite. At least the photos are still nice.
 

Later that day, we also stopped at the Ubirr Aboriginal rock art gallery and lookout. One thing I find interesting is that I’ve heard several people down here in Victoria insist on the label Indigenous as opposed to Aboriginal, as it is considered by some to be offensive, yet up in the Northern Territory I didn’t hear the word Indigenous even once, and the people themselves exclusively used the label Aboriginal. I suppose that’s the regional differences.
 
At Ubirr, we saw various rock art, from some of the positively ancient pieces – from as much as 65,000 years ago! – to illustrations that were made sometime in the 19th century, and we learned the basics of some of the stories behind them.
 
The lookout was particularly fascinating, as it really reminded me of the movie we watched for English that was set in Arnhem land. It was interesting to see the landscape of it for myself.
 
Somewhere along the way there, we also saw a Jabiru stork (even though the actual Jabiru stork lives in the Americas and this is in reality the black-necked stork, which the Australians have just spontaneously decided to call Jabiru), which is somewhat rare and typical of the region – for example, the town of Jabiru was named after them. It didn’t appear very friendly; Wikipedia says they “are not usually intimidated” and “can be quite aggressive (to other birds)”, so maybe it was for the best we only saw it from the bus.

 

At the end of the day, we arrived at our camp accommodation in Katherine, where we had an “Aboriginal cultural experience”. We saw a kangaroo tail cooked over a fire and some of us tried throwing a spear. For me it confirmed that I absolutely hate kangaroo; I honestly felt a little sick after eating it – though partially that was because I got the tail-end (ha) of the tail, which contained little meat and lots of bone and ill-textured fat and cartilage. This also got confirmed another day when we had kangaroo and alligator sausages for dinner. The alligator sausages were alright, if a bit strange – they tasted of chicken but had the texture of fish – but I took one bite of kangaroo and nearly retched. It’s an interesting thing to learn about myself; I wonder how many other kinds of meat common in other cultures but not mine I absolutely hate but have never tried.
 
The next day, we woke up very early in order to get to the Nitnit gorge cruise at sunrise (and then didn’t get on the boat until well after sunrise, so what was that about). We saw the fascinating rock formations of the gorges and heard some stories connected with the place, as well as saw some interesting birdlife and yet more crocodiles.
 
Other than that, the day was almost entirely taken up by driving – the distances involved in the Northern Territory are very big – but I spent the time reading and rereading several books so the time passed quickly. That night, we slept in swags under the night sky, though it was partially overcast, so the view wasn’t too impressive. I did get my hands absolutely covered in mozzie bites, though they thankfully didn’t itch too much. Still, one other girl instead got bites all over her face!
 
The following day was once again taken up by a lot of driving, though we stopped at a waterfall along the way, and then finally arrived at Alice Springs in the afternoon. It was nice to sleep in an actual bed and to be able to use a washing machine. Dinner that day was freshly-prepared food, served on real ceramic plates, if you can believe it!
 
After waking up early again the day after, we drove to Kata Tjuta, which I really enjoyed, as the walk was long enough that we all got spread out and the acoustics between the rocks dampened the sounds of other people. Even though it’s very much a tourist attraction, it created the illusion of being alone.

 
In the evening, we finally arrived at Uluru – after seeing Artilla, or alternately known as Fooluru, as tourists often confuse if for Uluru, along the way. There, we saw the sunset. The colours changed in an interesting way, though it wasn’t as visible as I thought it would be. Despite being in the middle of the desert basically, and there not being any holidays on as far as I knew, the area was pretty full.
 

 
The next day we woke up before dawn yet again, as we went to see Uluru once more, this time at sunrise. Similarly to Kata Tjuta, I appreciated the illusion of being alone there; there were much fewer people at dawn then at sunset, go figure. The air was a bit nippy, but the walk warmed me up. After the walk at dawn, which we did individually, we met up with the guide and did the rest of the track along the base, learning about the significance of the various rock formations we were seeing.
 
The second-to-last day of the trip, we once again woke up before dawn and drove to the Kings Canyon to do the long walk all along the rim. It was a bit strenuous at places, but surprisingly alright considering the amount of fear mongering we got about it from the guide and even the people who made the track – for example, the “Heart Attack Hill” wasn’t nearly so dramatic as one might imagine. I got quite a few nice photos out of it – the light was absolutely stunning. 
For the last activity of the trip, we drove back to Uluru and did a camel ride at sunrise. It’s difficult to understand the size of them until you’re standing right next to one. Thankfully, the camels were mostly nice, and the ride went smoothly – though afterwards my left buttcheek and only the buttcheek was uncomfortably sore. We were seated two per camel, so the girl behind me had an interesting time when the camel following ours was clearly fascinated by her legs. His name was Timtam and he kept sticking his head up next to her. Thankfully both she and our camel – Madigan – took it alright.
 
The last day of the trip, we blessedly got to sleep in. Then we just packed up and went on our merry way to the airport, from where we flew back to Melbourne. Though the trip was magical, I was glad to be able to sleep in a real bed with my blankets!