For the first time, drones have been used to record footage from the 20,000 square kilometre World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park.
The Bininj and Mungguy people, traditional custodians of this land, granted permission for the footage to be shot, giving the world a bird’s eye view of the region.
Locations include the famous Yellow Waters Billabong at sunrise, the rugged escarpment of the towering Nourlangie Rock – a deeply spiritual site home to significant works of Aboriginal rock art more than 20,000 years old, the cascading waterfalls of Maguk Gorge and Gunlom Waterfall, and the magical Ubirr Lookout at sunset.
The stunning footage allows people from all over the world to experience a new perspective and the best of Kakadu.
By using new technology, Tourism Northern Territory and Parks Australia are looking to attract more visitors from all over the world to come and seen this natural wonder for themselves.
This isn’t the first time Tourism Northern Territory have turned to technology as a unique marketing tool – Uluru was mapped for street view earlier this year. Both Uluru and Kakadu are world heritage listed for not only their natural environment, but the living (and world’s oldest continuing) Aboriginal culture.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2017/07/google-mapped-uluru-for-street-view-but-should-it-have/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Uluru-410×231.jpg” title=”Google Mapped Uluru For Street View, But Should It Have?” excerpt=”For the Anangu people, knowledge is the basis of society. It is given by the Elders when you reach a milestone in your life, when you are are worthy of it.
But when your land has attracted 250,000 tourists a year since the 1950’s, how do you strike the balance between educating about the importance of your culture, and giving away too much? This was the challenge faced when the Northern Territory Government approached Google about doing something special with its Street View technology at Uluru.”]
“We’re so excited to be a part of this project, the footage is incredible and shows our park at its very best. I have little doubt that this extraordinary content will help boost visitor numbers,” Steve Wroe, acting Kakadu National Park Manager said.
The new content was filmed by Instagrammers Salty Wings, who toured the Northern Territory in June this year.
The couple said that filming the lush green landscapes of Kakadu was an enriching experience.
“Having seen a lot of Australia’s coastline, we were humbled and excited when the opportunity of working inland at Kakadu National Park came,” said Salty Wings co-owner Jampal Williamson.
“The landscape stood out in more ways than one. Never had we experienced such an expansive, ancient place with such history. At all times we were surrounded with vast planes and giant escarpments that stretched as far as the eye could see. We shot from sunrise to sunset each day, capturing rich Australian outback colours. The mornings were spectacular, as soon as the sun broke the horizon Kakadu came alive with wildlife and pastel hues.”