Australia Weather News

Birdlife at Yellow Water billabong in Kakadu National Park. - ABC

The World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park is suffering through one of its driest wet seasons on record.

From the beginning of October through until the end of January, the township of Jabiru, which sits within the National Park, recorded only 340 millimetres or rain, which is less than half its average for the period.

The lack of rain is affecting wetlands as well as some local tours.

Due to low water levels, the Djabulukgu Association's Kakadu Cultural Tours has been unable to put boats in the water to run its annual wet season cruises through the wetlands.

Manager Liam Maher said without consistent rain over the next few weeks the boat cruises, which launch from the Magela Creek crossing, would not operate this year.

"We've had just a little bit of a wet period that's pushed the water up, but we are not that optimistic that it's going to stay up," Mr Maher said.

"We don't know if we are operating a product yet for the wet season. We hope so."

While Mr Maher described the trip as an "Everglades experience" that wowed both local and international tourists, he said the main reason for running the wet season cruise was to provide continuous employment for Indigenous guides outside of Kakadu's peak season.

"It's difficult for people to sustain for a couple of months without money," he said.

"There are a lot of Aboriginal people who don't want to be on unemployment benefits and prefer to live outside that system.

"We've got in excess of 20 Aboriginal guides who have the licences and skills to take people out on country."

Mr Maher, who has two decades of experience in Kakadu, said a pattern of drier monsoon seasons was emerging.

The low rainfall this season follows a below average wet last year.

"The environment of Kakadu needs its annual floods," Mr Maher said.

"One of the reasons this is a World Heritage area is because of its United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's World Heritage listed flood plains, which have got millions of bird and crocodiles and numerous animals that rely on them.

"All animals are affected by water levels because of their nesting systems and their food and things flowering or not flowering."

Further south, the all-year-round wetland cruises at Yellow Water have not been affected.

Tour guide Kevin Lyons said the lack of water in many areas of the Kakadu National Park meant an abundance of local and migratory birds had flocked to permanent water sources.

"We're certainly seeing a lot more bird life out on the water," Mr Lyons said.

"We get to see more sandpipers, pratincoles, coots and things like that but here is also a lot more of the locals, like egrets and magpie geese."

The weather bureau is forecasting below average rainfall for the Kakadu region over the next three months.

ABC