Windjana Gorge

The Napier Range is not a mountain range in the usual sense but the exposed remains of a barrier reef that grew in a Devonian sea some three hundred and fifty million years ago, and fossils of ancient corals and marine creatures are visible in its limestone. The Lennard River has cut Windjana Gorge through it, leaving walls up to a hundred metres high above a riverbed that holds pools through the dry season. Those pools are full of freshwater crocodiles, which bask on the sand in numbers and are harmless if left alone. Fruit bats hang in the trees, and the gorge is culturally significant to the Bunuba people, whose resistance leader Jandamarra used the country in the 1890s.

What you actually see

• The freshwater crocodiles - dozens basking on the sand along the pools.
• The fossil reef walls - Devonian limestone with visible marine fossils.
• The river pools - permanent water through the dry season.
• The fruit bat colony - flying foxes roosting in the gorge trees.

When to go

May to September; the wet season floods the gorge and closes the roads. Early morning and late afternoon are best, both for temperature and for crocodile activity on the banks. Midday heat in the gorge is severe.

Honest expectations

Access is unsealed and the road closes in the wet. Freshwater crocodiles are not dangerous unless harassed, but they should not be approached. Swimming is not permitted. Facilities are a campground with basic amenities and no shop.

Nearby

Tunnel Creek is thirty-five kilometres south; Derby lies west.