The Kimberley, positioned within the northernmost a part of Western Australia, is a area of unspoiled pure magnificence that beckons adventurers and nature lovers alike. With its rugged landscapes, wealthy Indigenous tradition, and numerous ecosystems, the Kimberley gives an array of superior sights and experiences.
Embarking on a journey to Australia’s Kimberley area is like stepping right into a residing canvas, the place the Earth itself tells tales of historic occasions, and the creatures that roam its landscapes whisper tales of survival. Rugged purple cliffs stand as sentinels, historic rock artwork finest recognized for its depictions of Wandjina, cloud spirits related to rain, and waterholes that nurture an astonishing array of life.
Water—from the shoreline to rivers, flooding to waterholes—shapes all the pieces from land formations to cultural rituals and on a regular basis life throughout the Kimberley. Travelers on Nat Hab’s Australia North: Kakadu, Kimberley & the Outback itinerary are welcomed to the area by a neighborhood Gija information with a standard water ceremony. This article explores how water shapes Western Australia’s Kimberley area’s panorama and wildlife.
Reflections at Bungle Bungles at Purnululu National Park
Where is the Kimberley?
Due south of Timor-Leste, on the shores of the Timor Sea, lies Australia’s Kimberley area—an enormous, historic panorama on the northwestern tip of Australia. The Kimberley is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts within the area of the Pilbara, and on the east by Australia’s Northern Territory.
Roughly 3 times the dimensions of England and residential to fewer than 100,000 folks, the Kimberley is famend for its dramatic and numerous pure magnificence, together with rugged ranges, expansive cattle stations, tidal rivers, and gorgeous gorges.
The northernmost of the 9 areas of Western Australia, the Kimberley boasts wealthy indigenous historical past, evident in its historic rock artwork, and is acknowledged for its distinctive wildlife, contributing to its standing as a major ecological and cultural treasure.
Aerial view of Porosis Creek, Prince Frederick Harbour, Kimberley coast
The Kimberley: Sculpted by Water
The Kimberley’s dramatic panorama has been sculpted over millennia by the highly effective forces of water. The area’s geology tells a narrative of historic rivers that after flowed throughout the Kimberley Plateau, depositing layers of sedimentary rock round 1,800 million years in the past.
These sandstones and quartzites, together with basalt lava flows, kind the spine of the Kimberley’s iconic escarpments and plateaus. Water continues to form the land via the area’s excessive tidal actions, which may attain as much as 36 toes throughout spring tides, making a dynamic and ever-changing shoreline.
The Kimberley coast is characterised by its steep rocky cliffs, dissected by creeks and rivers. These waterways have etched deep gorges into the sandstone, making a labyrinth of channels that assist a wealthy array of wildlife. The tidal ebb and movement have additionally given rise to distinctive marine ecosystems, with mangrove colonies growing the place the rivers meet the ocean.
Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park
Landscape photographers could have a subject day with the colours and methods gentle falls in the Kimberley’s different topography: from historic sandstone plateaus to limestone ranges, darkish gorges, and rugged escarpments, a wide range of habitats that assist a various vary of species that may thrill wildlife photographers too.
The Kimberley’s waterways carve via the panorama, creating gorges which might be house to freshwater crocodiles, turtles, and a myriad of fish species. The surrounding vegetation gives meals and shelter for a number of chicken species. Rock formations and cliffs supply nesting websites for birds of prey and shelter for rock wallabies and different small mammals. The area’s complicated ecosystems are a results of thousands and thousands of years of geological exercise, which has created a sanctuary for its endemic and numerous wildlife. The Kimberley’s river techniques are the lifeblood of the area and kind the backdrop for unforgettable Kimberley river cruises.
The geology of the Kimberley not solely shapes the bodily panorama but in addition dictates the distribution and abundance of wildlife, making it a singular vacation spot for nature lovers, conservationists, and vacationers wanting to find out about indigenous cultures.
King George River, northern Kimberley
On a Bungle Bungles Safari
The Bungle Bungle Range is the defining geologic characteristic of the Kimberley’s Purnululu National Park excursions. The distinctive beehive-shaped towers are made up of historic seabed sandstone, conglomerate, and dolomite deposited into the Red Basin 375 to 350 million years in the past.
Cathedral Gorge, Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park
In its Statement of Outstanding Universal Value, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee said:
“The Bungle Bungles are, by far, the most outstanding example of cone karst in sandstones anywhere in the world and owe their existence and uniqueness to several interacting geological, biological, erosional and climatic phenomena.”
The mixed results of wind from the Tanami Desert and rainfall over thousands and thousands of years formed the domes.
On Nat Hab’s Australia North: Kakadu, Kimberley & the Outback itineraries, you possibly can see the Bungle Bungles by airplane, helicopter, and on foot together with your Expedition Leader and a neighborhood Aboriginal information.
Katherine Gorge, Nitmiluk National Park
Mitchell Plateau and Falls
Created in 2000, Mitchell River National Park covers an space of over 440 sq. miles on the Mitchell Plateau, Ngauwudu is the Wunambal folks’s identify for the Mitchell Plateau. The plateau’s wildlife has remained unchanged for near 50,000 years.
Three principal options of the park are the dramatic vistas throughout the plateau, Mitchell Falls, and Surveyors Pool, generally known as Aunauyu, within the conventional lands of the Wunambal. The park is understood for distinctive vegetation, resembling a species of fan palm, and is house to a number of threatened species, together with the tiny rock wallaby generally known as the monjon and the black grasswren.
Mitchell Falls, generally known as Punamii-Uunpuu to the Wunambal folks, is an beautiful setting the place the Mitchell River has been carved via sandstone to create four-tiered swimming pools of clear emerald water. Nearby rock artwork galleries showcase a number of the world’s oldest pictographs, relationship again 45,000 years.
Mitchell Falls
A 2015 Pew Trust article shared:
The Mitchell Plateau is understood for its spectacular views, resembling Mitchell River Falls and an enormous savanna of endemic fan palms, which may develop for hundreds of years. The plateau is house to 50 mammal species, 220 species of birds, and 86 reptiles and amphibians in addition to prolific 40,000-year-old Indigenous rock artwork.
“The Mitchell Plateau is one of the last places on Earth where native wildlife has remained unchanged for almost 50,000 years and is the only part of mainland Australia where no native species extinctions have occurred,” mentioned Barry Trail, director of Pew’s Outback program.
Mitchell Plateau helicopter excursions supply a chicken’s-eye view of the cascading Mitchell Falls. A helicopter’s vantage level permits guests to understand the size and grandeur of those waterfalls, that are particularly spectacular in the course of the moist season after they swell with rainwater.
Private scenic helicopter flight over the Bungle Bungles
Wild Weather of the Kimberley
The Kimberley’s climate is characterised by two distinct seasons: the moist and the dry. The moist season, from November to April, transforms the panorama right into a lush, inexperienced paradise, with thunderstorms and torrential rains that replenish the land. This is the time when the waterfalls are at their most majestic, and the wildlife is most lively.
Conversely, the dry season, from May to October, reveals a unique facet of the Kimberley. The diminished rainfall and cooler temperatures make it the proper time for exploring the area’s pure wonders.
In the Kimberley. Aboriginal communities acknowledge six distinct seasons:
- Mankala, the wet season, happens between December and March, throughout which as a lot as 90% of the area’s annual precipitation will fall.
- Marul (April), when the rains stop and the land begins to dry.
- Wirralburu (May) arrives with drying winds that blow in from the southeast, and the nights develop into cool. Barrgana (June-August) marks the cool winter dry season units in, and temperatures drop to annual lows round 54 F – although components of the Kimberley Plateau can drop under freezing at the moment.
- Wilburu (September) marks a warming time when seafood is especially ample within the coastal reefs and mangroves.
- Larja (October – November) delivers sizzling, humid days, humid, and temperatures can soar as much as 104°F (40° Celsius) till the northwest winds of Mankala convey the rains once more. In the Kimberley, moist and dry seasons rule the calendar. Bordering two deserts in Australia’s distant north, channels that normally lay dusty and dormant flip inexperienced after monsoon rains.
Weather is something however delicate in Western Australia’s Kimberley. A once-in-a-century flood swept throughout the area in early January 2023. Tropical Cyclone Ellie dumped 31.5 inches of rain over seven days, closing roads and washing out bridges.
2024 has delivered the perfect moist season locals bear in mind in many years and means distant Kimberley desert lake techniques are in full movement. Local fish swim in locations that have been dry. Paruku, or Lake Gregory, has risen dramatically, and the atmosphere is verdant and thriving. As the water dries, desert grasses develop beneath, regenerating the nation and offering habitat and meals for wildlife.
Rock wallaby photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Jamie Smith-Morvell
Spot Wildlife within the Kimberley
The Kimberley is a haven for wildlife, with species which have tailored to the acute circumstances of the area, together with roughly 65 species of endemic wildlife: native vertebrate fauna discovered nowhere else on this planet. The area’s remoteness means its ecosystems and species assemblages are comparatively intact in contrast with the remainder of Australia. Diverse habitats, from the savanna woodlands to the mangrove-lined coasts, assist an array of fauna, together with the elusive saltwater crocodile, the regal sea eagle and the enduring barramundi.
More than 80% of Australia’s mammals, reptiles, frogs and vegetation can’t be discovered anyplace else on Earth. From prehistoric crocodiles and platypuses to koalas and kangaroos, the geological isolation of the continent for thousands and thousands of years allowed a singular biodiversity to develop that should be conserved. In northern Australia, you might be serving to these species simply by visiting the nationwide parks and preserves that have been created to guard their habitats.
If you’re fortunate, it’s possible you’ll spot smaller rock wallaby species whereas climbing rocky slopes or on the cliffs of the gorges. Rock wallabies are simpler to identify on an Ord River cruise or a cruise on Lake Argyle.
Rock wallaby photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Mike Hillman
Wildlife within the Kimberley has developed outstanding variations to thrive in its distinctive landscapes, characterised by rugged terrain, excessive climate, and numerous habitats. Here are a number of the distinctive wildlife variations you may spot within the Kimberley:
- Rock Wallabies: Their highly effective hind legs are tailored for leaping among the many steep cliffs and rocky outcrops, permitting them to navigate the rugged escarpments with ease. Kangaroos are unusual within the Kimberley, however it’s possible you’ll spot 9 species of wallaby! The West Kimberley black-flanked rock-wallaby or wiliji, listed as endangered in Western Australia, is present in solely three remoted ranges within the Kimberley area of northern Australia. A inhabitants as soon as considered 2,500 sturdy has plummeted to an estimated 500, and this attractive creature could possibly be extinct inside a decade. WWF’s assessments supported uplisting this West Kimberley subspecies of rock wallaby to Endangered.
- Saltwater Crocodiles: These apex predators have tailored to dwell in each salt and freshwater environments, and their skill to journey lengthy distances throughout land allows them to maneuver between river techniques. Saltwater crocodiles are doubtless the Kimberley’s most well-known native animal.
- Dingos are one of many few placental mammals that existed on the Australian continent earlier than the arrival of Europeans, however they’re believed to have been launched solely 4,000–5,000 years in the past by Indonesian seafarers. They are a taxonomic thriller, at present listed as a subspecies of the grey wolf. Some taxonomists see them as descendants of domesticated canine, although, whereas others imagine they warrant their very own species, Canis dingo.
Dingo photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Jamie Smith-Morvell
- Scaly-tailed Possums, generally known as yilangal by the Wunambal folks of Mitchell Plateau, are secretive, nocturnal marsupials discovered solely within the Kimberley’s rocky landscapes. Their prehensile tails are lined in scales tailored to know branches, aiding of their motion via the bushes in limestone ranges.
- Goannas (Monitor Lizards): Nine species of goannas or monitor lizards make their house within the Kimberley. With sharp claws and powerful limbs, they’re well-adapted for climbing and digging, which is crucial for looking and escaping predators within the numerous Kimberley terrain.
- Echidnas are distinctive, spiny anteaters and one of many solely two egg-laying mammals (monotremes) on this planet. Echidnas have a spiny coat, a snout used for each respiratory and consuming and a specialised tongue for catching bugs. Adapted to sizzling, dry climates, they will dig into the bottom to flee the warmth, and their spines present safety from predators.
Echidna, photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Mike Hillman
- Birdwatching within the Kimberley: Many chicken species have tailored to the seasonal modifications within the Kimberley, with some migrating lengthy distances to reap the benefits of the moist season’s abundance. All Australian species of birds of prey have been recorded within the Kimberley. The Australian Atlas of Birds lists 760 species; over 300 of these have been noticed within the Kimberley.
The Kimberley is a area that guarantees journey, discovery, and a deeper appreciation for the pure world. Whether it’s cruising alongside the serene rivers, flying over the dramatic landscapes, or encountering the distinctive wildlife with native guides, a Kimberley wilderness tour gives an expertise that’s each profound and exhilarating.
Are you seeking to embark on the journey of a lifetime? Luxury Kimberley expeditions resembling Nat Hab’s Australia North: Kakadu, Kimberley & the Outback itinerary present the proper mix of journey and luxury. Pack your luggage and binoculars, set your sights on the horizon, and put together to discover the water, climate and wildlife of Australia’s Kimberley.
Aerial view of Porosus Creek in Prince Frederick Harbor, Kimberley