Day 40 – Winjana Gorge

I woke to the (muted) animal alarm and we drank some water and then walked into the gorge. It was quite cool and the going was good. There were already crocodiles out and visible, but this was balanced out by walking along under bat colonies – screams, fluttering, flying (a bad move as eagles captured one each) and urine and guano dropping onto us. It took about and hour and an half and then we hit a ‘trail end” sign – due to quarantine. On the way back we walked more along the river sand and also saw a very large croc on his own – even after a photo I wasn’t sure if he was a freshie or saltie. We walked back to camp, had breakfast and I had a shower and dressed. I decided to walk back to get a better photo (I spoke to a ranger along the way) with the longer lens and found out he was a freshie. I spent the afternoon doing very little. Just before dusk we walked down to the large waterhole and waited – about 40 crocodiles were visible and, as it got darker, they all crept into the water. After dusk the bats flew out and some went down to the waterhole to drink. With darkness it was not easy to se what was happening, but there was the occasional splash and people (a large crowd was there) cheered as the bats escaped. Eventually we walked back, had some tea and went to bed. The evening was interesting as the toilet nearest to us was visited by a large green frog.