What's on in Kakadu (Jabiru), Australia through the year

Busy — Summer holidays in Australia, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Rule

  Swim only where it is checked

  1 Jan – 31 DecRisk

  Saltwater crocodiles move all over the park with the water, and rangers survey and clear the few plunge pools that open each dry. Everywhere else is closed to swimming, permanently and for good reason. Source ↗

Still on: Southern roads and falls close (1 Nov – 31 May (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Southern roads and falls close (1 Nov – 31 May (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Southern roads and falls close (1 Nov – 31 May (usually))

Busy — Autumn / Easter break in Australia, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Southern roads and falls close (1 Nov – 31 May (usually))

Busy — Dry season

• Season

  Dry season

  1 May – 31 OctCrowded

  From May the floodplains drop, the unsealed roads dry out and the park opens up properly. Bininj count six seasons here, not two, and this covers three of them.

• Rule

  Park pass, dry-season price

  15 May – 31 Oct

  Everyone needs a pass and it costs more in the dry than in the wet (an adult pass is $40 in the dry, $25 in the wet). Buy it online before you drive in; the ranger stations are a long way apart and there is no boom gate to sell you one. Source ↗

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Southern roads and falls close (1 Nov – 31 May (usually))

Peak crowds — Dry season, Winter (July) break in Australia

Nothing new starts in June.

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Dry season (1 May – 31 Oct), Park pass, dry-season price (15 May – 31 Oct)

Peak crowds — Dry season, Winter (July) break in Australia

Nothing new starts in July.

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Dry season (1 May – 31 Oct), Park pass, dry-season price (15 May – 31 Oct)

Busy — Dry season, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Birds crowd the last billabongs

  1 Aug – 31 Oct · usuallyBirdlife season

  As the floodplain shrinks, magpie geese, jabiru and whistling ducks pack onto what water is left. The late dry is when the Yellow Water cruise is at its best and the heat at its worst.

• Festival

  Mahbilil Festival

  20 Aug – 10 Sep · usuallyMajor festival

  A one-day festival on the lake at Jabiru at the end of the dry: music, weaving, bush foods, spear throwing and a magpie-goose plucking competition, run by and for the local communities. Source ↗

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Dry season (1 May – 31 Oct), Park pass, dry-season price (15 May – 31 Oct)

Peak crowds — Dry season, Spring break in Australia

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Dry season (1 May – 31 Oct), Park pass, dry-season price (15 May – 31 Oct), Birds crowd the last billabongs (1 Aug – 31 Oct (usually)), Mahbilil Festival (20 Aug – 10 Sep (usually))

Peak crowds — Dry season, Spring break in Australia

• Season

  The build-up

  1 Oct – 15 Dec · usuallyExtreme heat

  Locals call October to December the build-up: still, heavy air and thunderheads that stack up for weeks before they deliver. Tours wind down, tempers fray, and the lightning is the show.

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), Dry season (1 May – 31 Oct), Park pass, dry-season price (15 May – 31 Oct), Birds crowd the last billabongs (1 Aug – 31 Oct (usually))

Quiet — one of its worst months for weather

• Closure

  Southern roads and falls close

  1 Nov – 31 May · usually

  The four-wheel-drive tracks to the big falls and most of the unsealed south shut with the first rains and reopen only once the crossings drop, which is often well into the dry. Source ↗

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), The build-up (1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Australia, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in December.

Still on: Swim only where it is checked (1 Jan – 31 Dec), The build-up (1 Oct – 15 Dec (usually)), Southern roads and falls close (1 Nov – 31 May (usually))