Jatbula Trail: Katherine Gorge to Leliyn

Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory · Australia

Moderate6 daysOceania~£300 est.

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Overview

The Jatbula follows a songline of the Jawoyn people for 62km across the top of the Arnhem Land escarpment, and it has solved the problem that ruins most tropical treks: heat with nowhere to cool off. Here, every single day ends at water — the plunge pool below Biddlecombe Cascades, the pandanus-lined channels of Crystal Falls, the midnight-green pool at 17 Mile Falls, and finally the tiered swimming lagoons of Leliyn (Edith Falls). You walk in the morning, swim all afternoon, and fall asleep to frogs arguing in the paperbarks. In between comes the quiet astonishment: rock-art galleries in the Amphitheatre's rainforest pocket and whistling kites riding the thermals. The trail is one-direction only, walker numbers are capped, and bookings open about a year out and vanish quickly for the June–August window. The catch-outs are heat discipline — you start at first light and carry more water than feels reasonable between pools — and the season itself: outside May to September the creeks flood and the trail closes. Stage from Katherine, 30 minutes away, with a boat drop across the river to start. Roughly £300 in permits, camp fees and transfers.