In the Shadow of the Serpent

Some 317 kilometers south of Darwin, the mirror-still waters of the Katherine River cut a path through towering sandstone cliffs in Australia's Top End.

- KALPANA SUNDER

Here lies Nitmiluk National Park, where land, legend, and time are inseparable. The red rock walls sculpted over millennia glow in the sun's passage, and their ancient presence speaks to something deep and silent in the soul.

In the language of the Jawoyn people, traditional custodians of this land, Nitmiluk means "cicada place." Legend says, the Rainbow Serpent Bolung, a powerful creation spirit, carried water in his dilly bag and carved the gorge into being. It was Nabilil, a dragon-like ancestral figure, who named the gorge after hearing the nit-nit song of the cicadas echoing through its stone corridors.