So far in this trip, crocodiles were thin on the ground and (apparently) thick in the water. Pascal kept assuring us that we’d soon see so many crocodiles that we’d get sick of the sight of them. I had my doubts – the water everywhere was the right temperature for the crocs to feel comfortable, so why would they pose for us?
But you should trust your tour guide. We arrived at the East Alligator River for an indigenous boat ride with Guluyambi cruises.
It was wonderful.
Before we got there, Pascal told us about Indigenous etiquette.
“Eye contact is a sign of aggression, so the guide will divert his gaze or wear sunglasses. He’ll probably look at the ground while talking to you, so don’t think that he’s being rude or evasive. Also a soft hold of the hand instead of a firm handshake.
“Men and women’s business is still being practised here. He’ll answer any questions he can, but if it’s about women’s business he won’t answer, or if it’s a thing that only initiated men know, he’ll dodge that answer too.”
As we hopped into the boat, we could see crocodiles sunning themselves along the banks. There were hundreds of them!
It looks like such a pretty, welcoming spot, doesn’t it?
Remember what Pascal was talking about in this post about how dangerous the Salties are? Believe me, NO ONE was tempted to hang bits of themselves out of the boat.
Especially when we began to see things like this floating in the water!
This croc wouldn’t move. Our boat had to steer around him.
Here’s another one.
“Rangers don’t manage the country,” said our guide. “Crocodile manage country. They eat anything that gets too numerous, they eat them. Including themselves…”
“Mating season, they give each other horrific injuries. They can stop the blood flow in that area until they recover.”
We saw a very brief spat between a large and small crocodile.
It was low tide, so people can cross the river here. During the day, people fish from here. But at night?
The guide never stays after 5 PM here. It’s too dangerous.
“Always take a light source at night, or best not to go out at all. 70% of animals do their activities at night. Crocodiles and snakes are all out hunting. Trust me, you do NOT want to step on one of these in the dark! Nah, by 5:30 I’m sitting in my chair, having a beer and watching the telly. I’m not going out and messing with these boys.”
You’re never alone in this place.
Egret, anyone?
I can imagine an animal pushing their way through the scrub towards the water, feeling protected by the foliage… then wham!
A little further on, the guide suddenly swung the boat around and showed us a bird. “You people are very lucky,” he said. “It’s not often you get to see a Great Billed Heron.”
I’m sorry. I tried to get a photo but it flew off into the trees.
There were some spears and a woomera stored above us in the boat.
“We’ve always made our spears light and flexible. When you throw it, the whipping motion pushes the spear into the body.
“We make the tip out of ironwood. It’s toxic. If you get that into you, you have to get it out straight away or you’ll be in trouble. If you’re hunting an animal, when it’s speared the ironwood makes them disoriented and foggy. Then it’s easier for the men to catch them.”
I thought that was amazing.
If you throw with a woomera attached at the end, it’s like the tennis ball throwing things that people take to the beach for their dogs. The woomera gives the spear 3.5 times more power.
As we were going along the river, the wind blew the hat off my head. Thank goodness I’ve got a cord under my neck or it would’ve been gone.
Little splashes of water flew on the wind.
Beautiful!
“Geese, ducks, waterfowl eat the water chestnuts that are revealed when the waters go down. By September, they’ve eaten too much and this is when the people hunt them. They’re fat and lazy.”
Paperbark is used for many things.
” We use it every day.” Then he listed off the following things, while I was trying my hardest to keep up with him in my notes:
“Raft made from bark from one side of 5 trees. Only take the bark from one side, don’t ringbark the tree, so the tree can recover. The bark is water-repellent. We make these when we want to cross the river so the crocs don’t get us.
Roofing.
For a sleeping mattress, we use the inner bark which is salmon coloured. We also use this for nappies and blankets. You wrap baby in blankets, it’s durable.
Bottom string wrapped on our spears.
Dilly bag, baby carried in it with the handle on her forehead and the baby on her back. The woman carries a digging stick, if she sees a lizard, she clubs it, wraps it in paperbark and puts it next to the baby. The baby doesn’t mind and she has dinner ready.
Wrap food in bark.
Use the leaves for herbs and spices.
Bush toilet paper. Inner is best.
Hats.
Shoes for spiky country.
Canoe for sea journey from the trunk.”
“You can even get water from Paperbark,” he said. “See that bubble in the trunk? If you’re walking along and the river has dried up, you can put a hole in the bubble and get water. Of course, you only take what you need and you use the paperbark to plug the hole so the next person who comes along can use it.”
“What happens if someone doesn’t plug the hole?” asked somebody.
He laughed. “Ooohhhh, you wouldn’t want to be that person! From a small child, we are taught to only take what we need. Nothing more. You leave resources for the next person. That’s engrained in our culture.”
That’s true. Many of the stories that we’ve been told, both here and especially at Uluru, have been about the consequences when someone is selfish and goes against the code. They usually end up as a rock or reptile forever.
He pointed out a bird sitting in a tree above us. “Whistling Kite can see a mouse 2.5 km away. They keep an eye on things and clean up after hunters.”
We also saw Sea Eagles flying above us.
“Sea eagles live as long as us,” he said.”They bring whole animals back to their nests. They see everything. The sea eagles escort people back to country. if they die away from it.”
“This outcrop here is where our people used to come for a holiday. It’s a good activity place, steep and rocky so you can see the crocodiles coming. There’s also some rock art on the walls.”
I zoomed in on the cave behind the tree on the right:
“This is a good spot to hide from the kids!” he said. “The cave also has air conditioning. The wind blows right through it.”
Two-faced rock.
“The kids say it’s Homer Simpson taking a nap.”
This is a good place to avoid crocodiles. They don’t like rocks and hard surfaces on their soft bellies, so this outcrop is where we’ll be setting foot on Arnhem Land.
When he said that we’d be “setting foot on Arnhem Land”, I felt a tingle. I’ve seen the words ‘Arnhem Land’ on maps my whole life. It was so far away! But now, here I am.
Some people stayed in the boat because they were worried about crocodiles. Not me! I was up and out of there!
It wasn’t a huge climb, but the views when we got there were very pretty.
Well, here’s me, ruining the serenity! But here I am, on Arnhem Land.
Here’s the view from the other direction.
But hang on… wait a minute…
Yep! Crocodile in the water.
Imagine living here 60,000 years ago and coping with all of this? I was feeling much more admiration for the culture and people who lived here.
When I turned from the river, this was behind us.
I couldn’t help but see a face.
Here’s one with a person in it for scale.
We turned back towards the bus, saying a last goodbye to the outcrop upon which we stood. .
We slowed down as we came past this sandy beach.
“How’s this place?” asked our guide. “Does it look like a nice place for a picnic? A swim?”
When we all nodded, he said, “This beach is the best ambush place for crocodiles. They pull animals in as they come to drink. This place might look nice now, but at night it’s carnage. You can see tracks all over the sand and some don’t go back.”
Such a beautiful place, but so deadly too.
We headed back to our crocodile-shaped hotel for lunch, but it was a quick turnaround because we were going to look at Rock Art in the afternoon.
It was amazing! But that’s for another post…
Dad Joke of the Day:
Your trip is a great mix of all things NT.
yes, I think whoever put all 3 tours together in one package did a really good job. (It wasn’t me – just to clarify haha!)