King George falls

We are at these falls later than our program schedule to make sure we had the best experience at the Horizontal falls. This place continues to surprise me, the King George River is an extraordinary geological feature, during the wet season water flows at what must be an extraordinary force over 50 m high cliffs. In the dry season, which is now, there is but a trickle of water. Our expedition leader speaks enthusiastically about this river and the point at which the falls start. We're shown a video of the falls in full flood. One of the guides saw them at the end of one wet season but could not get very close because of the force of the water and the mist from the water meant they could not see a lot.

Bob he signed up for 2.5 hours in the morning with an 8 am start. I did not. It would have been much cooler and he saw more wildlife particularly birds. This trip, Bob's second is also a two and a half hour zodiac ride down the river and back, it was very pleasant despite it being a hot humid day with little opportunity for shade.Fortunately we start just after lunch which would have been slightly cooler than later groups. The zodiac moves relatively slowly most of the time which does provide some breeze and protection from the heat and humidity. We see more of this extraordinary landscape that is the Kimberly. It is quite difficult to describe, the red rocky cliffs looking like piles of rocks tower above the water on both sides. There is a surprising amount of vegetation growing within the rocks and trees higher up growing out of the cliffs. There are small bends in the river where there are mangroves adding to a sense of a green cool landscape which of course it was not.

Our zodiac driver said at the start that at this time of day we shouldn't expect to see much wildlife. We do spend a little bit of time looking in and around the mangroves but there is not a lot of wildlife there. A large turtle puts its head out of the water and there are raptors a long way up, impossible to identify though. We see egrets and herons often patiently waiting on the rocks watching for fish. Rock wallabies would be around but at this time of day they will be keeping cool and hiding deep in the rocks. Crocodiles are around, not on land as we have previously seen but in the water presumably looking for food. They are oblivious to us and glide quietly by. We watch them for quite some time in two different parts of the river. They are re not easy to see because even though one of them is quite large, they look silver against the water and could easily be mistaken for a log. However, the point of the journey is less about the wildlife and really it is about the end of the river where the falls would be if there was water at this time of year. The wildlife is a bonus.

Finally we turn around a bend to see massive cliffs, dark grey where there will be water later in the year and on either side more red rock cliffs. There are several places where the water flows and here moss, ferns and very small bushes grow. I understand now why this place is special. Even in the dry season we can't help but look in wonder at the majesty of this place and imagine it in full flood. It is a surreal, very quiet and imposing place. We sit for a while and just take it all in.

There are some places where there is a trickle of water and our zodiac pulls over and water is collected for us to taste. It tastes like cooled water, nothing special but I just had to do it. I wasn't quite prepared as were others, to climb onto the front of the zodiac to collect the water. There are other people in other zodiacs collecting water in what looks like champagne flutes, I thought how did they come so prepared. The answer was nearby, bar manager and staff handing out champagne cocktails. Very happy to have one, Ponant know how to pick the location.

The journey back from the falls is uneventful. A few birds around but it's now quite hot. I spent the journey just looking at the cliffs. I can't seem to stop taking pictures. It is our penultimate day and tonight is the last gala, we are eating at the captain's table. I feel for him having to do this, he looks tired. This has been more challenging than most trips with all the changes forced by the weather. Usually the wine on these nights is good but not this time so much so Bob asks the waiter for a Chilean wine we had last night.Læs mere