Jabiru – Part Two – Cahills Crossing

23^rd September – 25^th September 2025

Cahill’s Crossing fords the East Alligator river and is the border crossing into Arnhem Land from Kakadu. Arnhem land is traditional land, and access is not permitted without a permit. We didn’t have a permit to cross, so why go there? Indeed, why are there three, well-appointed, viewing areas on Kakadu’s side of the crossing? After all it is just a causeway.

Well, some of you may have seen some of the crazy videos or reels posted on various media sites highlighting Cahill’s Crossing, crocodiles and idiots…in the same space. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves; let me explain a little about the crossing. Cahill’s Crossing is the only way from Kakadu into Arnhem Land, and most people use the crossing wisely. That is, they cross when the tide is low. The experts say, “Crossing is only advisable during the dry season, at low tide, and in a high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicle with a snorkel”. This is one of the reasons why.

This first shot shows the water across the causeway at low tide. It’s still safe to cross as the tide rises, and falls, but when it’s in full flow (for about two hours) it’s impassable and there’s a lineup of vehicles on both sides waiting for a safe crossing.

Even at low tide there are crocs hanging around, and it gets more problematic as the tide rises. There are more crocs and the current becomes much much faster and stronger. More than a few cars have been pushed over the side by this fast flowing river. If you look closely you’ll see a croc in every shot.

During the wet season the East Alligator floods and Cahill’s Crossing often becomes ‘Cahill’s Closed’! Travellers need to find another way over, so most travel to and from Arnhem Land takes place during the dry season; May – October. The crocodiles are gathering in wait for the fish that they know will be coming over the causeway with the tide. The idiots crossing on a rising or falling tide are just a bonus for us onlookers.

The river rose surprisingly fast, and the relatively clean calm river soon turned into a swirling, frothy, latte before settling into its milky chocolate tones, thanks to the suspended clay.

So that’s a bit about the river. What about the crocodiles? As mentioned, they are waiting for the river to flow over the causeway bringing a feast of fish with it. With this much food, there were a lot of crocodiles. When we were there, there were no less than forty crocodiles. There were big females, much bigger males and at least two real granddaddies that made them all look small. But they had one thing in common – they were we were all hungry.

Now, these crocs weren’t posing for photos for the tourists sitting in their little boats. These crocodiles had one thing on their minds, food. As such I’ll warn you that going forward, this post contains images that may not suit all. Fish are going to get eaten, and that cannot be sugar coated. From here on in, you will see teeth, dead/dying fish and a little bit of blood. So now you know, let’s get looking, it is after all what mother nature intended.

The crocodiles don’t actively hunt their prey, at least not in this environment. They simply float on the surface with mouths open and front arms stretched wide (it looks to me like they’re giving the ‘Peace’ sign) and wait for something to swim into their trap.

Once they have the fish, they then have to manipulate it into place before they can swallow it. It looks like they’re playing with the fish, throwing them in the air multiple times, but they’re not. The crocodiles’ teeth are not made for chewing, but for chomping and crushing. So, if they have a big fish, which most of them are, they must manipulate it into the right position before they can swallow it whole. From what we saw it could take on average half a minute for a crocodile to swallow its catch.

There’s a couple of reason why eating/swallowing while in the water is problematic for the crocs. First, they have a palatal flap, a rigid structure at the back of their throat that acts as a barrier between the mouth and the throat. This allows them to open their mouths wide underwater without drowning, but it also means that they can’t swallow underwater.

I took the first image at Billabong Zoo last year, hence the nice clean water, but I’ve put it in so you can clearly see the palatal flap closing off the throat. The following photos are of a single kill, albeit the shortened version.

The next issue that they have, is they don’t have a true tongue that moves freely in their mouth. They have a fleshy tongue that is attached between their teeth on their lower jaw. So, to swallow their food, they must lift their heads well out of the water, open the flap which will allow the food to move down the throat and be swallowed. You can see the skin under the bottom jaw expands and contracts, I think this is how the tongue, and the fish are moved.

It wasn’t a sad ending for all the fish, if this one’s luck held out, he would have made it past the buffet.

Mostly the crocs seemed happy to be in such close proximity, I guess they knew there was plenty of food to go around, however there were a couple of tussles.

Just to prove I haven’t forgotten the bird lovers amongst us, there were a few kites and a young Nankeen Night Heron joining in on the fun, looking for, and eagerly picking up scraps left behind in the feeding frenzy.

This last shot was literally the last before my battery ran out. I did have a spare, of course, but… after four and a half hours it was time to go home.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!