Considering there are plenty of Kakadu tours to consider, we’re sharing one of the best Darwin tours to Kakadu that you really need to consider with Ethical Adventures.
In this guide, you’ll find out what a 2 day Kakadu tour looks like, where I share exactly what each day looks like, whether it’s worth it, and whether you could technically do this trip with a car hire instead. So, if you are looking for a Kakadu route or itinerary schedule, hopefully this guide will help you.
As always, our travel guides are full of honest reviews to help you make a decision about whether you want to do a tour and what you might get out of it.
Here’s everything we learnt since returning from Kakadu National Park with Ethical Adventures.
Where is Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is located 1h40m drive near Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. The best way to get to Kakadu National Park is by doing a tour from Darwin or driving yourself.
What makes Kakadu National Park special?
Known as one of the best national parks in Australia, and one of the 16 World Heritage Listed sites in Australia, Kakadu borders the remote Arnhem Land home to some of the best the Indigenous culture and Aboriginal rock art sites in Australia.
Kakadu National Park is also the largest national park, covering 20,000kms. This park is huge, and is home to unbelievable wetlands with some of the best wildlife in the world including; birds, saltwater crocodiles, wallabies and even dingos.
Having visited a lot of national parks in Australia, I have to say that you won’t find anywhere quite like Kakadu National Park. The wetlands, natural beauty, environment and wild landscapes are so incredible, you’ll come away with a whole new appreciation for birdlife that at times some of the scenery really reminded us of being on safari in Africa (obviously not the same wildlife scenery but the landscape, yes).
This is also the place to come to if you’re interested in learning more about Aboriginal culture and Indigenous history.
This was a real highlight for us because we went on a few tours here run by Aboriginal people who taught us about their land and stories about the area.
While we thought nothing would compare to our beloved Karijini National Park which we visited weeks prior, I have to say there really is something incredibly special about Kakadu National Park.
And so, with this in mind, I’m going to explain why it made us feel this way on the guided tour with Ethical Adventures.
Can you drive yourself to Kakadu?
Technically you can drive to Kakadu National Park in a 2wd. To be honest, we thought Kakadu National Park was mostly 4wd but it turns out you can see some of the major highlights in a normal car. As we have been driving our amazing Star RV motorhome around Australia, we decided to opt for a tour instead of driving.
If you want to see Jim Jim Falls, you’ll need a 4wd, and unfortunately Twin Falls has been closed for a few years now as major upgrades are taking place on the roads to there. We were hoping to see Jim Jim Falls but if you visit in the dry season, there won’t be any water there.
At the time of visiting, we went in June which we were later told is a great time to visit as it’s the sweet spot between the wet season and dry season when the weather isn’t crazy hot but the scenery is still green.
Why we booked with Ethical Adventures
We booked our tour with Ethical Adventures because our writer Amii booked with them when she went to Litchfield National Park and loved it.
We loved her review of the Litchfield day trip and knew we had to book with them for Kakadu not only because of this, but because we had genuinely read good reviews about their tours in general.
You see, Ethical Adventures tours are exclusively a small group tour which means you won’t be herded around like bigger tours. You also have to bare in mind if you book a Kakadu day trip on a big tour bus, you’ll spend more time at toilet stops and food stops.
We also loved the itinerary schedule for this tour which included a couple of river cruises and a scenic flight which we were super excited about as well.
If you’re wondering if a day tour is sufficient time to see Kakadu National Park, I would highly recommend staying overnight as the sunrise Yellow Water billabong cruise is absolutely incredible and a real highlight.
What the two day tour looks like
Although we were sent the itinerary for the tour, we didn’t really know what to expect in terms of what the sites, cruises and flight would actually look like. So here’s a breakdown of what our tour actually looked like.
Day 1
As we were staying about 30 minutes outside of Darwin at the Oasis Tourist Park (highly recommend as it was our favourite camp site we stayed at in our whole WA and NT trip), we were picked up last at 6:30am. We joined a small bus with our driver and tour guide Steve, a lovely American couple and a fellow Londoner.
The five of us and our tour guide were about to spend the next two days together, with my Steve and I being the youngest by about 30 years. It turns out this tour attracts people of all ages and truth be told we had a ball of a time with our group. We had such a nice time with everyone and it really added to the experience, that when we returned back to our home, we realised that it had been a while since meeting a group of people we got on so well with.
7:00 – Seeing Fogg Dam Conservation Centre at the best time of the day
Within about 30 minutes, we arrived at Fogg Dam which is where we stopped by the day before after our Jumping Crocodile Cruise on the Adelaide River. But this time visiting Fogg Dam at sunrise was like being in a totally different place.
As the birds were waking up, both Steve and I looked at each other and said how there was something about it that reminded us of our trip to Africa so long ago in really lovely nostalgic way.
We were blown away by this amazing dam and yet we quickly realised that we wouldn’t have known that sunrise is THE time to see the wildlife in the reigon. If you visit this dam in March – April, you’ll see the beautiful water lilies in bloom which really would be incredible.
It was at Fogg Dam that we were treated to delicious homemade muffins and ham and cheese croissants and a tea or coffee.
We spent an hour here before we made our way to the next spot.
9:30am – Finding peace at Mamukala Wetlands
We stopped by Mamukala Wetlands for a toilet stop before seeing the incredible lookout to the absolutely beautiful wetlands. As we all entered the lookout, we all said a big “wow” because it really is magical.
I closed my eyes, tilted my head into the sunshine and sat quietly while listening to all of the wildlife here. It was one of the first moments on our entire travels that I felt a real sense of peace and gratitude.
11:30-12:30 – A walk around Ubirr rock art and the amazing lookout
I can see why Ubirr is one of the best places to visit in Kakadu National Park because the 1km walk takes you to some of the best Aboriginal ancient rock art sites.
The walk isn’t difficult with our group being able to complete it quite easily. I did it in thongs and we spent about an hour here looking at the amazing rock art sites before climbing up a small hill to an incredible lookout over the wetlands. It is so incredible and quickly made me realise how I have never seen another national park in Australia quite like it.
12:30-3:00 – Lunch and East Alligator River Cruise
We arrived at the East Alligator River Cruise early to have our lunch on a few picnic benches. We were given a massive chicken salad in a camp style metal lunch box which was delicious. Then before we knew it, we were jumping on board an Alligator River Cruise with a local Aboriginal guide.
He took us up to the famous Cahill Crossing before floating down the river looking out for crocodiles and rock art. It was then we realised that crocodiles are pretty happy to chill out in the water, unlike what we saw on the Jumping Croc Cruise.
While the guide could have definitely done with a mic so we could all hear him (this was very common with all the tours we did in Darwin where a mic was definitely needed), we found the guide very endearing and loved it when he pulled over for us to step foot on the other side of the river onto Arnhem Land. He showed us how he would throw a spear for fishing which was so incredible to watch.
Tip! Our Ethical Adventures guide Steve gave us some good advice and told us to sit on the right hand side of the boat as thats the side you’ll spend only about the first 10 minutes in the sun before spending the rest of the boat ride in the shade. This was a great tip as the weather is very hot in Kakadu, even during June.
3:30-4:30 time to stop at the hotel
We arrived at Anbikik Resort to check into our room. This was quite exciting for us as we had been living in a motorhome for six weeks by this point so it was nice to have a bedroom again. We loved the outdoor shower here which definitely became a highlight later when having a shower under the star lit skies.
4:30-7:00pm – visit Nourlangie Rock Art and lookout
We then hopped back into the van and drove 30 minutes down the road to Nourlangie to see a 20,000 year old shelter and more amazing rock art sites. While most people come here in the middle of the day, we arrived later on while it was still pretty hot. I can only imagine how hot the site gets in the middle of the day, so be careful if you visit then.
We then raced to the lookout nearby which was a 10 minute climb up a hill to the most amazing lookout over looking the Nourlangie Rock, an amazing spot to see the sunset in Kakadu. It was one of those moments that will stay with us forever as it really was just incredible.
7:00pm – Chinese dinner at Anbinik Resort
We then headed back to the resort for a fantastic laksa dinner and celebrated one of the other guests birthday too which was really fun.
Day 2 – Sunrise Cruise, Scenic Flight and Aboriginal Cultural Centre
5:30am – 9:00 The incredible Sunrise Yellow River Cruise
We set our alarms early to jump in the van at 5:30am for a 6am arrival time to jump onto a Yellow River Cruise. The cruise didn’t start until just before sunrise but as soon as we arrived onto the boat, we knew this was going to be one of the most special highlights of our entire trip around WA and NT.
Steve our Ethical Adventures guide gave us a massive heads up and made sure we go onto the boat with Dennis, a local Aboriginal guide (there are a couple of boats here so you’ll be joining the cruise with other people). And it turns out, Dennis is an amazing tour guide, with many of the other guests on the boat all saying how much they loved this cruise.
As we got onto the boat, the skies were already a bright pink colour with the mist rising just above the water to give it a beautiful atmospheric glow. As we began the tour, we cruised along the river until we stopped briefly to watch the sun rise in the distance.
There were just two other cruise boats on the Yellow River with us at the time and as the tour lasted two hours, the time went so fast as we were all snapping away while stopping to take in the mind-blowing beautiful views we were embraced with.
The amount of wildlife on this tour from the birds to crocs is exceptional and I quickly realised that if we hadn’t booked the Ethical Adventures 2 day Kakadu tour, we probably wouldn’t have even known about this amazing sunrise cruise. What a treat it was.
We even met a couple on this boat who had just been on a very expensive Broome to Darwin cruise who claimed they hadn’t seen any wildlife or tour guides on this level during their entire trip (goes to show how amazing this tour truly is).
9:00 – 10:30 breakfast at Coolinda Lodge
As we all got back to Coolinda Lodge from the boat cruise, all of us on the tour talked about how amazing the boat cruise was as we tucked into a full buffet breakfast. The breakfast at Coolinda Lodge is exceptional with a massive array of hot and cold breakfast options with fruits, yoghurts, cereals, pastries, pankakes, hot food and so much more.
10:30- 12:00 Flying over Kakadu was a massive highlight
We then got ready for our 30 minute Kakadu scenic flight with Kakadu Air. They weigh you before jumping on the flight as well as everything you’re bringing with you so make sure you only bring what you need. I recommend wearing light clothes as it gets hot on the flight and some water. The other guests didn’t bring any water with them at the time and regretted it.
As the flight started, I wondered how on earth it would match the recent Bungle Bungles scenic flight we did in Kununurra or the Rainbow Lakes scenic flight in Esperance. Both were exceptional and I wondered if we would see anything even on par with both of them. But it turns out this flight really is amazing!
We flew over the Nourlangie rock but the real highlight was flying over the wetlands. Seeing the bright green scenery really is incredibly special and I would 100% recommend everyone do this tour.
12:00 – 1:00 Aboriginal Cultural Centre
Our morning had been so amazingly special with the sunrise cruise and then the scenic flight, we then walked around the Aboriginal Cultural Centre in disbelief of the memories we had just made. The cultural centre is fantastic and was set up by Aboriginal people to tell their story of Kakadu.
I love cultural centres like this where you get to learn about the history as well as what the Traditional Owners of the land went through when the British invaded. It is heartbreaking to read, but gives you a true understanding of what they’ve been through as well as on the flip side learn about their culture and how they navigated life around the crocodiles in the region.
2:00pm stop back Manakula Wetlands for lunch
While we all took advantage of the big breakfast, we stopped over after an hour of driving back at Manakjula Wetlands for lunch which was a simple make your own beef sandwich. By this point we were all pretty tired from the amazing two days of visiting Kakadu and all passed out asleep before we woke up back at our Darwin accommodation.
Would I recommend this tour?
As we said our goodbyes, Steve and I returned to our Star RV motorhome both saying how if we had driven ourselves to Kakadu, we probably would have missed out on the cruises and scenic flight which really were the big highlights.
We probably wouldn’t have gone up to the lookout at Nourlangie Rock to see the sunset which was also another huge highlight and we wouldn’t have had our amazing tour guide also called Steve to give us those little pointers about where to sit on the cruises etc.
All in all, if you are looking for the best Kakadu tours, I would 100% recommend this one.
I think the accommodation could have been slightly better at Coolinda Lodge than at Anbikink but we loved the outdoor shower which was amazing to shower under the sky full of stars.
We have walked away from this tour feeling absolutely grateful to see a slice of pristine nature like this in Australia and glad we did this tour which provided those details we wouldn’t have known about or done if we had driven ourselves.
Find out more about this 2 day Colours of Kakadu Tour with Ethical Adventures and don’t miss out on what we thought was one of the most memorable experiences of our two month adventure with Star RV motorhomes around Western Australia and Northern Territory.
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