A fascinating 30 minute scenic flight west of Darwin is the Corroboree Billabong, a wildlife lovers paradise, in the heart of the famous Mary River Wetlands.

Travelling by scenic helicopter provides a unique aerial perspective highlighting the lay of the land and allowing a clearer understanding of the seasonal dynamics at play. Through periods of heavy rain and long dry spells, this is an ever-changing but always intriguing landscape.

We join the team from Wildlands Wetlands Safaris on an exhilarating 45-minute Airboat Adventure while discovering the flora and fauna of Australia’s largest wetland system, home to an abundance of wild crocodiles, native birdlife and various land mammals including wallabies, buffalo, jabiru, sea eagles, kites, kingfishers, brolgas and jacanas.

Please note: minimum age for the airboat tour is 4 years.

Grab a front row seat as these opportunistic, hyper-carnivorous apex predators demonstrate their explosive power and natural jumping ability, used at other times to capture birds and bats along the river banks.

The crocodile’s strong tail propels it out of the water to snare its catch, its jaws snapping shut with nearly 2 tonnes of closing pressure (almost twice that of an American alligator) producing an eerie drum-like sound before swallowing it’s catch whole and exhaling noisily as it disappears from view.

During the cruise you will also learn about the floodplain ecosystem, it’s history and other wildlife including white-bellied sea eagles, whistling kites, bull sharks and flying-foxes. The Adelaide River is also habitat for the endangered speartooth shark and critically endangered large tooth sawfish.

FUN FACT:  The largest crocodile ever recorded in the Northern Territory was in the 1980^s measuring an incredible 6.2 m long and was estimated to weigh well over 1000kg!