World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park is a place of abundance, bursting with fresh food. With bush tucker delicacies from barramundi to magpie goose, there is something for everyone.

Kakadu will offer visitors a chance to explore Indigenous cuisine and influences during the first ever 'A Taste of Kakadu', an interactive food festival which will be held between 12 to 21 May 2017. The Festival will showcase Kakadu's most famous produce, including the world's first-ever super food, the Kakadu plum, as well as providing opportunities for visitors to interact with Kakadu's local Indigenous people.

For over 50,000 years, Kakadu's Bininj/Mungguy people have lived in harmony with this ancient natural landscape. Today, traditions are given a modern twist and there are flavours that you'll find nowhere else on Earth.

 A range of activities included:

- Boutique dinners

- Campfire stories

- Bush tucker walks

- Cooking demonstrations

- Sunset tasting sessions

- Hunting and gathering talks

- and more!

More details can be found here - https://parksaustralia.gov.au/kakadu/taste/

Kakadu Tourism – the region's largest hotel and tour operator – has announced a range of exciting initiatives to make visits to Kakadu even more attractive in 2017.

Upgraded accommodation

Kakadu's famous Crocodile Hotel (aka 'The Croc' or Mercure Kakadu Crocodile Hotel) is following up earlier refurbishments with a further upgrade of 51 rooms and the addition of distinctive Indigenous styling in all rooms with bed runners and cushions designed by local artists Timothy Djandjomerr and David Cameron.

The project builds on The Croc's appointment last year of an Indigenous 'artist in residence', who works with other Indigenous artists to create artworks at the hotel's Ochre Art Gallery, which showcases one of the largest collections of traditional Aboriginal art in the Top End and the largest range of Kakadu and Arnhemland art in the country.

Native and tropical herbs and vegetables are now being sourced from The Croc's own herb gardens and green house, and are featured in dishes at the hotel's Escarpment Restaurant.   

Cooinda is also upgrading both its Lodge accommodation and its camp ground, with safari-style tented accommodation being made available from late June for the dry season. Highly popular in 2016, the tents are fully made-up for arriving guests and provide comfortable bedding and facilities. The small tent 'village' is set in a beautiful shady area of the campgrounds with access to quality share cooking and bathroom/laundry facilities.

Cooinda will also launch enhanced food choices, with a retro style 'Too Deadly Fish & Chip' van operating to provide fresh fish and chips with fast service, delivered in the traditional 'newspaper' style.

A bumper Yellow Water billabong season predicted

Special Yellow Water Fishing charters will be available throughout the season, and Cooinda General Manager Brett Skinner is predicting a bumper season for fishing enthusiasts due to the return of 'traditional wet' conditions this year. “Billabongs have had a great flush, and if we go on the results from the last similar wet, in 2012, anglers will be rewarded with brilliant Barramundi fishing conditions across the season,” he said.

Cooinda's Yellow Water Cruises is on track to deliver its first solar powered boat later in the year, with one of the existing vessels modified to incorporate solar power. With Yellow Water Billabong being one of Australia's most pristine waterways teeming with animal life, Yellow Water Cruises is committed to increasing its use of solar power across the fleet.

Guided tours of Kakadu

Spirit of Kakadu 4WD Adventure tours will be operating again from June to take visitors to some of the National Park's most spectacular natural attractions such as Jim Jim and Twin Falls. These tours provide a rich insight into the heritage and landscape of Kakadu and operate out of Cooinda daily during the dry season.

Free Ranger-guided tours are available daily during the dry season at some of Kakadu's most significant rock art sites including Ubirr and Nourlangie. Park Rangers also offer slide shows and information sessions throughout the year.

The Warradjan and Bowali Cultural Centres are open all year round and provide an invaluable insight into the culture and story of Kakadu's traditional owners, the Bininj and Mungguy people.

For further information: www.kakadutourism.com http://northernterritory.com/kakadu