The first morning on the Jatbula Trail goes the same way for almost everyone. The pack that felt fine in the car park is suddenly heavier than you remember. Someone is still adjusting a hip strap. Someone else is quietly wondering if they’ve packed too many snacks, or nowhere near enough. Then the group starts walking, the visitor centre drops out of sight, and within half an hour nobody is thinking about any of that.

This August, walkers from all over came together at Nitmiluk to spend six days walking all 62 kilometers of the Jatbula Trail with us. A few had been talking about it for years. Some had never carried a full pack before. By the time they reached Leliyn (Edith Falls) at the other end, they’d walked through some of the most beautiful country in the Top End, and they’d done it as a group of people who started out as strangers and finished as something a lot closer to friends.

Photo: @sunnydaysadventureclub

Walking on Jawoyn Country

Every step of the Jatbula is on Jawoyn Country. The trail is named after Peter Jatbula, a Jawoyn elder whose work helped return Nitmiluk to its traditional owners.

For generations, Jawoyn people travelled this country on foot along the route the trail now follows. Walking it today means following in their footsteps, through a living cultural landscape and past places that have been known and cared for by Jawoyn people for tens of thousands of years. It’s worth walking slowly enough to notice.

What the trail is like

It all starts with a boat ride up the gorge to the trailhead. From there, the trail follows the edge of the escarpment through open woodland, over sandstone and down into cool pockets of monsoon forest where the air suddenly smells of damp leaves. Creeks cut across the path. Waterfalls appear when you least expect them. Every camp sits close to water, so each day ends with a swim.

Photo: @amanda.jarrett_

The early days run somewhere between 8 and 11 kilometres. On paper that doesn’t sound like much. With a full pack in the Territory sun, it’s plenty. The group learned quickly that early starts were the way to go, and on more than one morning they were off before sunrise with head torches on, picking their way across rock and water in the dark and watching the country slowly turn gold around them.

Life at camp

Ask anyone who walked it what they remember most and the answer is rarely a single waterfall. It’s the evenings.

Boots come off the second you arrive. Then it’s straight into the water, usually still in whatever you walked in, because nobody has the energy to change first. Dinner is simple and somehow tastes incredible. The stories start: the best swim of the day, the worst hill, whose blisters are the most impressive. As it gets dark the sky fills with more stars than most of us see in a year, and camp goes quiet early.

By the second or third night, the group had found its own rhythm. People who’d met a few days earlier were refilling each other’s water bottles and waiting at the top of climbs without being asked. For a lot of people, that’s what stays with them long after the sore legs are forgotten.

The finish at Leliyn

The last stretch brings you down to Leliyn, where the trail finishes at the edge of the pools. After 62 kilometers, that first swim is about as good as a swim gets. Most people just float there for a while, not saying much, letting it sink in.

Why August

The Jatbula is only open through the Dry Season, and August sits right in the middle of it. Mornings are cool enough for a jumper at camp. Days are warm and clear. The waterholes are still full from the wet, so every swim is a good one.

Photo: @_mahlibrookes

It’s a beautiful time to be anywhere in the park. Late in the afternoon the sandstone walls of the gorge turn a deep burnt orange, and if you time it right you’ll catch the moon rising over the escarpment while the cliffs are still glowing.

Garnbak Festival of Sound

While the walkers were out on the trail, things were happening back at the visitor centre too. In August we launched Garnbak Festival of Sound 2027, Sound of the Wind, with a dinner at Nitmiluk. Garnbak is the Jawoyn word for the yidaki, or didgeridoo, and the festival will celebrate its music right here on Country.

The evening started outside on the lawn, with Jawoyn dancers moving to the yidaki and clapsticks as guests gathered around to watch. Phones came out, the youngest guests edged in for a closer look, and for a while nobody was thinking about dinner at all.

Inside, the visitor centre filled up for dinner, and a live band played as the plates came out. Good food, good music and a room full of people who care about this place. It gave everyone a real taste of what’s coming in 2027.

It was a great night, and we can’t wait to share more as plans come together.

Not quite ready for 62 kilometres?

You don’t need to walk the Jatbula to get out into this country. Our 2 Gorge and 3 Gorge cruises returned in late July and take you deep into the gorge system, with a guide sharing the stories of the place as the walls climb higher on either side.

Our Baruwei walks, to the lookout and around the loop, take you up over the western end of the gorge system. The trails are clearly marked and suitable for anyone with a moderate level of fitness, and the view over the gorge at sunset is one of the best in the park.

If you’d rather cool off, the Southern Rockhole is a seasonal waterfall around 4 kilometres from the visitor centre. You can walk there, or take the ferry one way or return, and finish with a swim in the freshwater swimming holes. And if you want the full picture, a helicopter flight shows you just how far the gorges stretch into the escarpment.

Canoeing has finished for the 2026 season, so if paddling the gorge is on your list, pencil it in for next year.

Walk with us next year

This year’s walk was so popular that we’re already planning the next one. It usually runs around the same time each year and spots are limited, so if you’d love to be part of it, now’s a good time to start getting ready. Dates are coming soon. Register your interest on our Jatbula Trail page and we’ll let you know as soon as they’re set.