Cahills Crossing

Visited: late dry season

Recommendation: Cahills Crossing is famous for its thrilling crocodile encounters. Located in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia, it's a causeway that crosses the East Alligator River. However, the real spectacle lies in the abundance of saltwater crocodiles that congregate in the riverbed. 

'Bardedjilidji Walk is close to the crossing and it offers stunning views of the Arnhem Land escarpment and the Nourlangie rock art site. The walk runs through incredible rock formations and passes through a billabong, providing opportunities to spot a wide range of wildlife such as water buffalo, crocodiles, and birds.

There are several reasons why you might visit Cahill's Crossing. First, it's the main access into Arnhem Land. You need a permit and a very good four-wheel drive to make it out there as it is one of the most remote parts of Australia. Another reason you might go to Cahill's Crossing is for the walks, the wildlife, the scenery. But most people, let's face it, go to Cahill's Crossing for one reason. And it is the crossing itself. It is quite a remarkable place. It's remote, and yet it has some great infrastructure. There are good car parking facilities, toilets and on either side of the crossing, there are viewing platforms and it looks like a good deal of money has been invested in them. The viewing platforms are big, they've got seating and shade. All in all, they are pleasant places to spend your time and people do. At certain times of the year, the place turns into a frenzy because crocodiles sit on the eastern side of the crossing waiting for the tide to come in. They sit open mouthed and wait for fish to be washed over the causeway, hopefully straight into their mouths. When I visited there in very late dry season, in October, there were six to ten very large crocodiles just lined up, waiting. You could see their teeth and it was quite remarkable. Every now and again, they would cross by each other and there'd be an odd snap and a big splash of water followed by lots of oohs and ahhs from the crowds. 

And in the middle of this is the causeway, most of which is not visible under the water running across it. At times there's very little water and at others it can be quite deep and treacherous. But people cross it. I thought that as Arnhem Land is so remote that very few people would be travelling there, maybe once or twice a day. However it was busy, with people coming and going across the causeway. 

Estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) 

People have died here. People have got stranded here. People have had to be pulled out of the river. So it's just a very unusual, surreal experience. Every time you see somebody crossing the causeway you kind of hold your breath especially when the water is a bit higher. There is even a YouTube channel dedicated to the traversing of this causeway. The thought of the crocodiles alone would stop me from crossing at Cahills but people do. Everything from small cars to big trucks cross there and a lot of the time people seem to revel in the journey but I can't believe there isn't a sigh of relief when you get to the other side.

So it's a great place to spend some time sitting looking at the crocodiles, watching the vehicles crossing it but there's still stuff going on in the surrounding area. Herons ply their trade on the banks when the river is low. Kites, doves, orioles flit around that the greenery which lines the river. 

You can camp quite close to Cahill's Crossing or you can drive up from the nearby township of Jabiru, but it has so much more to offer than just the crocodiles. Running around the area is the 'Bardedjilidji Sandstone Walk, and I spent some very enjoyable time early in the morning here. As well as being very beautiful with incredible sandstone features, it's teeming with bird life and I really loved it there. Amongst the usual gentle call of the Peaceful Dove, which I always love to hear, was the call of the Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove. It took me quite a long time to find them as they always sit high up in the trees. Despite their beautiful colours, they are very cryptic and difficult to see in amongst the greenery. But I did see one or two, and I wasn't displeased with this photograph. 

Along the back of the walk is an area away from the creek through the sandstone formations. The combination of the rocks, low lying shrubs and sand looked ideal for finches. I always loved the sound of the finches and they were here. Long-tailed and Crimson Finches were moving around in a group. Although they were quite shy, a bit of patience yielded lovely views of these stunning birds.

Also in the area were the Blue-winged Kookaburra and its distant cousin, the Forest Kingfisher. The beautiful light of the morning and the sandstone area gave some very nice colours to everything I photographed that day. Both of these birds belong to the larger family of Coraciiformes, which includes kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers, and hornbills. This is a significant shared lineage. While they are in the same family, they belong to different subfamilies. The Forest Kingfisher belongs to the subfamily Halcyoninae, which includes most of the typical kingfishers. The kookaburra belongs to the subfamily Daceloninae, which includes the kookaburras and some other larger kingfisher species.

Agile Wallaby hopped around the formations but didn't really stick around as you might expect. They are probably the most common and adaptable marsupial and are widespread across northern Australia. They might seem to be reasonably small but the males can reach up to a metre high and weigh up to 27kg. They are easy to identify with a dark stripe running from the nose to the eye, a pale cheek stripe, and another pale streak across the thighs. Their tails are long and flexible, with a black tip.   

Agile Wallabies are generally solitary but may form small groups, especially when feeding. They are primarily nocturnal but may also forage during the day, particularly in the wet season. Common in northern Australia, the Northern Territory is a great place to find them, especially in areas such as Kakadu National Park and Litchfield National Park.   

Another notable species that I didn't get to photograph was the Sandstone Shrikethrush, which is endemic to this area. The Red-collared and the Varied Lorikeet were also both here, although they denied me any opportunity to photograph them, staying high up in the flowering gum trees, and moving on whenever I got too close. There were lots of cuckoos here and at this time of year, they are very vocal some of them calling incessantly. The Pacific Koel, Channel-billed Cuckoo and the Sahul Brush Cuckoo were all contributing to an interesting orchestra. 

The Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon were here in the car park. By that time, the heat of the day had got to me and I didn't even have the energy to get out and photograph them. But I guess that's what happens when you've photographed these kind of birds before. And to be fair, they just kind of sit there and when you've got one shot of them, you're not really going to get any better. 

The walk was about three kilometres long and I spent a couple of hours out there. It is very hot but the highlight was walking back from the crossing to the car park. I heard the familiar call of a pitta. Their 'walk to work' call is so distinctive and once you've learnt it, you're never going to forget it. I was standing on a small bridge leading from the car park to the platforms when I heard it. So I stopped and just waited. To my absolute amazement, a bird then flew in not too far away. It sat up and called. Quite, quite incredible, I even got video of it. In all my time seeing pitta, they've either been asleep, running away, or just not visible at all. So to get one out in the open, was phenomenal. The area is known for their population of Rainbow Pitta but you never really expect to see them out in the open.