Taste of Kakadu

Overview

If you're contemplating a trip to the Top End this year, May's the time to do it. For ten delicious days, Taste of Kakadu will take over the heritage-listed Kakadu National Park with cook-ups, safari camps, masterclasses, bush tucker tours and more. The festival is an immersive celebration of the traditional food, culture and customs of the region — and is marking the national park's 40th anniversary this year.

First up, the festival will give you plenty of opportunities to up-skill. There are stacks of workshops, from cooking with celebrity chef Mark Olive, bush tucker walks with Indigenous rangers and traditional basket weaving (all free) to x-ray art painting and bush dyeing (both $5).

And, you'll need to keep up your energy, so don't miss the mammoth cook-ups, including a family cooking camp ($10) with students from Jabiru Area School, a riverside stone banquet ($20–40) soundtracked by live storytellers and canapes and cocktails inspired by local ingredients on the Cooinda Airstrip, paired with stories of Aboriginal nighttime mythology ($106). You can also get on the water on an incredible Yellow Water cruise ($125), which involves snacking on canapes made with native ingredients and looking out for saltwater crocodiles.

Taste of Kakadu will take place from Friday, May 10 to Sunday, May 19 in Kakadu National Park. You can check out the rest of the program over here.