Drive just three hours east of Darwin and you’ll find yourself entering a world perched right on the edge of creation. Inside World Heritage-Listed Kakadu, spanning almost 20,000km2, four major river systems, a multitude of varying terrain, more than 5000 listed Aboriginal art sites and a diversity of wildlife second only to the Amazon, there’s just one thing of which a visitor can be certain, and that’s that everything there is uncertain.

Ever changing, always on the move, it’s a land of seasons almost continually turning. So when’s the very best time to get the most out of Kakadu? And what’s the most time you’ll need to get out the very best? Kakadu’s local Aboriginal population of traditional owners advises paying careful heed to their seasons – which they recognise as falling not into four, but six distinct categories.

The beginning of the year, from January to March, is redolent with heavy thunderstorms. Fishing is at its peak as plant and wildlife populations explode with the onset of heavy rains. This time is called Gudjewg. April sees any clearing skies swept away by storms of powerful winds. This time is called Banggerreng. May turns to June as Kakadu is covered in the chill and lowered humidity of morning mists, a superb season for bushwalkers. This time is called Yegge. From there to mid-August, a dryness emerges from the cool and bird numbers swell to massive proportions. This time is called Wurrgeng. Heat and dryness enter the scene from then until October, with the return of the thunderclouds. This time is called Gurrung. And then, finally, all the way until late December, the humidity climbs off the charts as the rains return to renew the land. This time is called Gunumeleng.

Photojournalist Ewen Bell recently spent some time in Kakadu to capture as many of its fleeting aspects, colours, landscapes and tiny details as possible. Besides discovering that there’s more there than one man can record in a single lifetime, he returned with a deep sense of the land’s importance to Aboriginal people. And the impression that visitors to Kakadu will remain just that: temporary travellers passing through a remarkable and unique region on Earth.

Just visiting //  Sunset at Narwurlandja casts a yellow and red glow across the exposed cliffs of Nourlangie. Non-Indigenous visitors are welcomed by traditional landowners to share the beauty of this place. When you spend a little time in Kakadu you realise just how deep the connection runs between the people and the land and how the wilderness is really a home. White man’s presence here is a little incongruous, as we don’t fit into the natural order of the land in the same way as the black fella. We’ll always be guests in Kakadu, visiting someone else’s home.

The magnificent falls // Jim Jim Falls rests deep in a valley accessed by 4WD, only in the dry season. For much of the year the road is too wet, and even at the start of the dry it takes several months before the saltwater crocs are cleared from the lower reaches of the river. A permanent sign warns people to avoid swimming, so visitors are encouraged to hike to the top of the falls where plunge pools are safe from crocs.

Kakadu’s rock art // Sheltered by its natural geological features, the Nourlangie Rock art site is one of Kakadu’s most significant. The stone country is important to Indigenous people as a safe haven during the wet, where the entire clan can gather to share the knowledge from past centuries. The Rock art stories cannot be understood from paintings alone; they’re just ochre outlines of far more detailed stories shared by spoken word from one generation to the next. Often the most we can hope to learn are the names of some characters and a hint of the drama that unfolded in the time of ancestors.

The birdlife // The Blue-Winged Kookaburra is just one of the many kingfisher species that add a splash of colour to the forests and waterways of Kakadu. Late in the dry, birdlife constricts to the few remaining water bodies that haven’t disappeared. Mary River, Yellow Waters and Mamukala are all within a few hours drive of each other, and provide a unique experience for the avid nature lover or dedicated twitcher.

Bush craft & lore // Fresh flowers are crushed to make natural colours. These little blooms appear in the weeks after fire burns through scrub, and are used to dye materials for weaving into simple baskets, mats and dilly bags – useful things that are a part of life for people who live off the land. Knowledge of the plants and how to use them is essential to Indigenous culture, and such skills are passed down from elders to the young.

Kakadu in the details // Photographers love the landscapes of Kakadu, not just for the sweeping views from the escarpment but also for the beautiful details that rest at your feet. The vibrant hues of this saltbush are just a taste of the intricate display of flora that fills the land. Colours of Kakadu are typically muted, as if washed out by thousands of years of annual floods, but every so often the palette bursts with vibrant tones. Anything with a little colour has a story to tell, through Indigenous culture or modern artists alike. Traditional owners have many stories to explain the beauty of creation across his land, from the formation of hills by the Rainbow Serpent to the feathers of crows made black by fire.

Salties and freshies // Crocodiles are a way of life in the Top End Freshwater crocs are smaller and shy, but this fully grown saltwater croc is afraid of nothing and earns the respect of local communities. Every year the big rains wash hundreds of crocs downstream into Kakadu and many remain in billabongs and lagoons. They like deep water and prefer feeding at night, mainly hunting fish and anything that splashes madly in the water. Indigenous people call the saltwater crocs “Ginga”, and follow them for days in the early dry season to discover their nests. Ginga eggs make a good meal when cooked slowly over covered coals.

Unexpected creatures // Kakadu is home to wildlife, plus the unwelcomed introduction of feral pigs, water buffalo and wild horses. As the dry season turns rivers into waterholes, the animals of Kakadu are forced to coexist ever closer to each other. Horses do less damage than pigs and buffalo, but even these noble creatures are out of place among the paperbark and soft mud of the floodplains. Native animals such as the wallaby and kangaroo don’t dig up the soft earth, and don’t cause erosion of riverbanks or bark damage to trees.