Tuesday 22 March 2016

ABC Wednesday, K for Keatings Lagoon

Park features                                   

 With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC, and thanks to Roger. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking for words beginning with   K                

Keatings Lagoon is fringed by paperbarks. Photo: Tamara Vallance. Keatings Lagoon is fringed by paperbarks. Photo: Tamara Vallance.

 When I spent my holiday  in Cooktown, Australia, where my daughter lives, I 'll never miss an opportunity to pay a visit to  Keatings Lagoon, where there is a variety of plants, and animals collected for food and medicines among other things. by the Waymbuurr people—the Traditional Owners of this park— for thousands of years. 

To enlarge photos click once or twice on photos



Paperbark trees are everywhere.

Waterlilies


"Waterlilies, sedges and algae grow in and around the lagoon which is fringed with paperbarks and shrubby wrinkle pod mangroves. Tropical woodland and small thickets of vine forest surround the wetland." You can read about this on the informationboards.






"The wetland is a refuge for thousands of waterbirds, especially in the dry season (May to October) when they congregate to feast on the rich aquatic life. Birds include the magpie goose, the black-necked stork, the strikingly-marked Radjah shelduck and the comb-crested jacana—slender agile bird with large feet that is able to walk across the surface of water lilies. Aquatic wildlife in the lagoon includes rainbow fish, snakehead gudgeon cod and freshwater shrimp. The wetland is also an important nursery area for juvenile barramundi which instinctively swim upstream into the lagoon during flood periods. To help protect these fish, fishing is not permitted within the park."



Facilities and activities

Welcome

The Aboriginal Traditional Owners of this park, the Waymbuurr clan of the Guugu Yimidhirr people, welcome you to their country and ask that you respect their special place.

Location

On the Mulligan Highway, 325 km north of Cairns and 5 km south of Cooktown.

What's special

This 47 hectare park protects a scenic wetland in the Annan River catchment, an important refuge for thousands of waterbirds that flock here in the dry season. The area has been a source of food and medicine for the Traditional Owners for thousands of years

10 comments:

Cloudia said...

What a special place, and I'm so happy to see the respect paid to the caretakers of centuries!

Trubes said...

Thank you for sharing the beautiful Lagoon with
us Wil, so much interest there, I'd love to go there,
Your pictures are very good too.

Best wishes,
Di.
ABCW team.

Mascha said...

Without water not life.. and in the water is alway's so many life, I've liked it in my childhood, to watching the water-life.
Happy Easter time

Leslie: said...

It must be so different in Australia as it's not only in another continent, but also I another hemisphere! I'd love to go there someday, but it is SO far away.

Leslie
abcw team

MelodyK said...

ergens is het herkenbaar... zou dat komen omdat het Europees is?
Mooie foto's, en je schrijft dat het Londen is, had net zo goed ergens in jouw of mijn omgeving kunnen zijn


Lieve groet

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

So interesting Wil...we all could learn so much from these people. It is the same here -- Native people revered the land and knew what it could give us if cared for.

Photo Cache said...

That sounds like an interesting place to visit and revisit.

My ABC WEDNESDAY

Roger Owen Green said...

what a great habitat!

ROG, ABCW

Shooting Parrots said...

The crocodile warning sign would definitely put me off venturing too far!

Powell River Books said...

I've never heard of a paperbark tree before. - Margy