On the penultimate expedition day we finally arrived in the region with the highest salt water crocodile density. The guide explained that they hardly ever leave the water to rest. Only a few centimetres of their up to 6 m long bodies were visible. You can imagine how much in awe of them we were!
Two women stood wildly gesticulating at us from an observation point. We asked them why. “Stop there! Don’t go any further!” they screamed, pointing to the railing with a wonderful snake wrapped around it. I’m sure neither of them had ever seen 14 people running so fast in one direction at the same time! Thanks to them we were able to take plenty of beautiful pictures of this completely harmless colubrid species before it fled from us. The two women are probably still in a state of shock.
From there we continued to Maguk, a water hole, which required a long trek over stones. But it was worth the effort. The water was crystal-clear and we carried out some feeding trials. The rainbowfish hardly had a chance against the cichlids, which literally pounced upon the tins. The water looked like a heavily overfed aquarium! Quite impressive.
As soon as the food reached the ground some Macrobrachium long arm prawns came along. Unfortunately Heiko had no macro lens on the underwater camera at this moment to take photos while they fed.
On the way to the last camp of this expedition we also saw some sulphur-crested cockatoos during several stops along our trip to Ubirr Rock. Here we visited the most beautiful cave paintings of North Australia. Our guide explained the background of each painting and had a couple of extra stories about them too. Even the “phillistines” amongst us found this truly exciting.
Today we celebrated the end of the expedition with one last leisurely dinner in a typical Australian pub. The kitchen staff was completely unused to having a group of 14 diners. They already had their hands full with the four guests already there. So we just ordered everything which was still going and shared it between us. Why was this our farewell dinner? Because although we still had 2 more days on to go, Michael and Alex were staying another week in Australia. We were, therefore, travelling on to Dubai with only 12 participants.
