Kakadu Billabong Safari Camp is owned by Mandy Muir and family. The family hold a…
Gudjewk
- Full wet season
- Waters peak at their highest
- Fish are nice and fat
- Worledon, the green ant mother, is ready to gather and eat
- Wirndilk are ready to collect to dye panduanus for making baskets and pandanus crafts
- Ginga, the saltwater crocodile, are on the move, travelling throughtout the river systems
Bangerreng
- Last Knock’em down storms bring fierce wind and rain
- Spear grass seeds are brown that indicates the bamurru (magpie geese) are laying their eggs which are ready to eat
- Many fish have spawned
Yekke
- Rains cease
- Ngarribolkwurlke – we start to burn fires on country as soon as the rains stop towards the end of April
- Angindjek ready to harvest for eating
- Wetlands turn into feeding frenzy
- Egrets in abundance feeding on insects as the waters recede
- Whistle ducks return in their numbers
- Fish spawned
- Fish and turtles fat
- Anwirndilk, heamadorum plant, start to grow within a couple of weeks in areas that have been burnt
- Red eye pigeon start to lay their egg in the patches of grassy regrowth that have been burnt
Wurrgeng
- The orange flowers of the eucalypts beginning to flower indicate the change of season
- Coldest time of the year
- Gumugen, freshwater crocodile, are laying eggs in the sand dunes of Kakadu creek systems, indicated by the blooming of the andjedj – bright yellow flowers of the the kapok tree. This is also a good time to collect pods for the yellow fluorescent dye for pandanus weaving
- The beautiful pink flowers of the calytrix indicate freshwater crocodiles are fat and pignosed turtle are laying their eggs
- Magpie geese and ducks are getting fat and ready to eat
- Kapok flowering indicating fresh water crocodiles nesting and also pig nose turtle another indicated is the turkey bush tree.
Gurrung
- Andudjmi starts to flower
- Hot weather time
- Wetlands are drying up
- Time to hunt for Almangayi on the floodplains
- Bamurru , magpie geese, are really fat from anguladj the water chestnut good time to eat both
- Freshwater mangroves start to bloom beautiful red dangling flowers
- River levels are low and filesnakes ready to gather
- Long necked turtles in hibination time to hunt and gather them
- Fresh water mussels fat
Gunumeleng
- First rains starts making the country beautiful green and lush
- Anbedje, the spear grass, starts to grow
- Andudjmi, the green plum, start to ripen and fall of the trees
- Badju are ready to dig and harvest
- Andjurrkumarlba the black current ready to gather and harvest
Items collected all year round
- Pandanus collected all year round