This outback safari explores some of the most iconic areas of Northern Australia, including Kakadu and the Kimberley. Some of our most sought-after birds—including Gouldian Finch and Hooded Parrot—inhabit some of our most stunning landscapes. Join Inala Tours on a journey across Australia’s Top End to see 200 species of birds including range-restricted species like Rainbow Pitta, Banded Fruit Dove, Sandstone Shrike-thrush, and White-quilled and Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon. Our mammal targets are equally diverse and include Short-eared and Wilkin’s Rock-wallaby, Antilopine and Black Wallaroo, Black Flying-fox and Dingo. Enjoy Kakadu’s vast wetlands, the Kimberley including Lake Argyle, as well as spectacular scenery, indigenous rock art and amazing boab trees (Adansonia gregorii).

We begin the tour in the environs of Darwin, exploring mangrove and monsoon forest habitats. Targets include Chestnut Rail, Rufous Owl, Orange-footed Scrub Fowl, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Great Bowerbird, and Rose-crowned Fruit Dove. Leaving Darwin, we’ll visit Fogg Dam, a location known for its diverse waterbird species, including Magpie Goose, Green Pygmy-goose, White-browed Crake, Comb-crested Jacana, and Brolga.

We’ll spend the next two days in Kakadu National Park, a double world-heritage site, recognized as such for both its natural and cultural riches. In Kakadu we’ll visit both Ubirr and Nourlangie Rock, its two most famous rock art sites. We’ll look for birds in a variety of habitats; targets include Partridge Pigeon, Rainbow Bee-eater, Black Bittern, Long-tailed Finch, Banded Fruit Dove, Little Woodswallow, and Rufous-throated and White-lined Honeyeaters. No trip to Kakadu is complete without a visit to the Yellow Waters Billabong, and on our cruise we’ll see a wide variety of wetlands birds, including Jabiru and Australian Pelican, and also one of Kakadu’s most famous inhabitants, the Estuarine Crocodile.

We’ll do some night spot-lighting hoping for birds such as Southern Boobook, Tawny Frogmouth, Large-tailed Nightjar, and Australian Owlet-nightjar, and mammals such as Savannah Sugar Glider and Black-footed Tree Rat. Over the next three days we’ll drive across a wide swath of the Northern Territory, looking for a variety of species, many of them colorful, beginning with Red-tailed Black-cockatoo, Cockatiel, Hooded Parrot, Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, and Gouldian Finch.

Continuing on to the Western Australia border, we’ll search for Spinifex Pigeon, Yellow-tinted and Grey-fronted Honeyeaters,
Tawny Grassbirds, and a wealth of finches, including Star, Long-tailed, and Masked. As we head toward the Kimberley area, we’ll look for Australian Bustard, Budgerigar, and the very rare Pictorella Mannikin. A Kimberley highlight will be a boat ride on Lake Argyle where we’ll enjoy a variety of waterfowl and look for two local specialties, the Yellow Chat and the White-quilled Rock Pigeon. Other local targets include Northern Rosella, Silver-crowned Friarbird, and Australian Reed Warbler. Specialty mammals we’ll look for are Short-eared Rock- Wallaby and Northern Nail-tail Wallaby. The tour ends in Kununurra.

Contact: Please refer to the itinerary below. For questions or to sign up, contact Eric Schroeder at travelprogram@goldengateaudbon.org.  Please do not contact the trip vendor first.

Price: 6 participants: 6,725; 7 participants: 6,225; 8 participants: 5,950. Single supplement $1,150 NOTE Prices quoted in Australian dollars (1 AU$ is currently 2/3 of the US$)

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