Australia North: Kakadu, Kimberley & the Outback

Limited To 12 Travelers

A very important feature of our northern Australia expedition is the limited group size, as nature travel is most meaningful when experienced in the company of fewer travelers, and our environmental footprint is lighter.

• Trip price includes: Accommodations, services of Nat Hab's professional Expedition Leader, local guides and lodge staff, one night on The Ghan luxury train, private wildlife and cultural cruises, scenic helicopter flight over Purnululu, scenic helicopter flight over Mitchell Falls, private touring with aboriginal guides, all meals from dinner on Day 1 through breakfast on final day, some alcoholic beverages, some gratuities, airport transfers for those arriving by air on Day 1 and final day, all activities and entrance fees, all taxes, permits and service fees.
  
• Internal air fee includes: Commercial flight from Sydney to Uluru, private scenic charter flight over Uluru and to Alice Springs, private scenic charter flight from Jabiru to Purnululu, private scenic charter from Purnululu to Mitchell Falls, commercial flight from Mitchell Falls to Darwin (these will be listed separately on our invoicing).

Travel to and from the start and end point of your trip, most alcoholic beverages, gratuities for Expedition Leaders, passport and visa fees (if any), optional activities, items of a personal nature (phone calls, laundry and internet, etc.), international airline baggage fees, airport and departure taxes (if any), required medical evacuation insurance, optional travel protection insurance.

Moderate

Walks and hikes are typically on uneven, rocky terrain and can have uphill sections, sometimes with large steps up or down, requiring mobility and stability. All guests must be able to walk unassisted for at least two miles at a time over uneven, rocky and sometimes steep terrain, in high heat and with sun exposure. 

There are several excursions where guests may not have access to a bathroom for hours at a time. Guests must be comfortable getting in and out of a small plane, being in a small plane for about two hours at a time for flight excursions, drive on rough, bumpy roads, walking on a moving train down narrow hallways, and be comfortable in a small sleeper cabin (for the train section of the trip).

In general, Sydney and Uluru do not have a high level of physicality. Walks are no more than 1.5 miles and are generally flat and gentle. Kakadu is incredibly hot, and while walks are short, they can involve a lot of rocky, uneven terrain and some elevation gain. There are two walks in Kakadu to see rock art that are about 1 mile with about 200 feet of climbing on uneven terrain. In Purnululu, we do a walk that goes through a creek bed (in a slot canyon), so there is some trail that is easier, and some walking on loose rocks in the creek bed that requires careful navigation and balance. This walk is about 1.5 miles with some elevation gain. In Purnululu, we do another walk through the Domes and to Cathedral Gorge, this is about 2.5-3 miles with several hundred feet of elevation gain, and getting to the gorge involves using a ladder in one section. There is some smooth trail, some sections with handrails, and some uneven terrain. The section walking through the Domes is all on nice trail and there is some sand to walk through. Flies are present in Uluru, and while we go when they are least present, they will still be there, and are most present at the heat of the day.  A fly net head covering mitigates this issue. Uluru gets quite cold in the early mornings and in the evening, sometimes dropping to 32 degrees F, so guests must be prepared for that.

Please note that all walks and activities are optional, and travelers should only participate in those activities in which they feel comfortable. While travelers are not required to participate in all activities, should you opt out of a scheduled activity, we cannot always guarantee alternatives will be available.

Our journey explores sectors of the Australian Outback that are least populated, most wild, and replete with rugged beauty. These are places that are most difficult to get to and experience fully on your own, where the expertise and guidance of our knowledgeable Expedition Leaders will be most appreciated. We explore in quiet hours and settings that facilitate secluded and intimate encounters with nature.

A Note About Our Private Chartered Flights
We have included these not for an extra element of exclusivity, but because they markedly improve our itinerary. Chartered flights allow you much more time in nature, rather than being beholden to the timetables and locations of commercial flights. By chartering our own planes, we can get where we need to go when we want to go. No big city connections, no layovers...just more time in the peace of nature, for you. You've come this far to experience the wild wonders of Australia...and we want to make sure you spend as much of your precious time doing that as possible!

It's crucial to be aware that the distances we cover on this itinerary are huge, and we are often traveling from one very remote place to another. The chartered flight from Jabiru to Purnululu National Park, for example, takes about two hours, and if we were to attempt to connect those locations that without this flight, we would need to go from Jabiru to Darwin (a three-hour drive), take a commercial flight from Darwin to Kununurra, and then either a long drive or another flight into Purnululu, which would mean a dawn-to-dusk travel day. Our chartered flights make this ambitious trip possible—combining these destinations without the chartered flights would add many extra days and extremely long drives. No one else is offering a trip with chartered flights, and that’s why Nat Hab is the only one able to offer this itinerary in this timeframe.

In sum: Many people visit Australia, but only an intrepid few Nat Hab travelers will experience wild Australia in such a rare and exclusive way!

A Note About Drives
With our chartered flights, we are able to avoid otherwise essential long, rugged drives, since the remote destinations we visit are at great distances from one another due to the vastness of the country. However, even though we have minimized driving, we'll have one or two road transfers, and roads are often narrow, winding and/or unpaved. Wildlife is often found near the road, too, which means we must drive slower than you'd typically expect. Please understand that all this is part of nature travel in Australia—while knowing that we have arranged activities and chartered flights to minimize driving challenges wherever possible.

A Note About Our Accommodations
It is important to understand that Australia is a huge yet sparsely populated country, a remote and isolated continent filled with wildlife and landscapes that are truly unique. Australia is also an English-speaking country, which, aside from some left-side driving and happy accents, feels pretty familiar to life in North America. Yet while it may seem similar to the U.S. and Canada in many ways, the culture around travel is a bit different. Many Australians travel via camper or caravan (trailer) to remote destinations. Those who do stay at ecolodges don't expect the same level of accoutrements, service or maintenance that most North American travelers are accustomed to, even when such lodges are designated as 4- or 5-star accommodations. And since the Covid-19 pandemic, staff turnover at many lodges has been very high, making regular upkeep more difficult. So, please be prepared that while you can certainly expect our accommodations to be clean and comfortable, the standards overall may be a bit lower than what you are accustomed to.

However: there are good reasons we stay where we do! We choose our hotels and ecolodges based on their proximity to nature and wildlife, and the experiences we are able to have from these more remotely located bases far exceed what we could expect if our primary intent was finding the most luxurious accommodation. On this trip, the luxury is in the experience, including access to nature and wildlife, which is why we will choose an ecolodge that's just minutes away from a wild reserve, for example, rather than a luxury hotel that requires a 2-hour drive. 

Mandatory Insurance

Your adventure will begin in Sydney, New South Wales and ends in Darwin, Northern Territory. We recommend that you arrive in Sydney at least one day earlier so you can adjust to the time zone difference. If you plan to arrive on Day 1, we recommend getting to Sydney by 4 pm in order to join the group for our welcome dinner and orientation. You may depart Darwin any time after 12:30 pm on the final day.

We can best serve you if our Natural Habitat Adventures Travel Desk makes your reservations, as our staff is intimately familiar with the special requirements of this program and can arrange the most efficient travel. Please call us at 800-543-8917. Note that while we offer you the best possible rates available to us on airfare and additional nights' accommodations, you may find better fares online.