Located around 100 kms from Katherine (direction south) the aboriginal community of Manyallaluk is not so well known by the tourists.
Manyallaluk is an aboriginal owned and operated tourism business which provide to the visitors the opportunity to learn about the aboriginal culture in a family type setting. The name Manyallaluk (Ma-yalla-look) means frog dreaming and refers to a site just east of the community.

To reach the Manyallaluk community, from Katherine drive south for about 50 kms, take the Mayallaluk turn off on your left, drive for 15 kms, then left again for about 35 kms.

If time permit you can take the two days tour option that will probably give you the opportunity to have more contacts with the community members. Unfortunately, with the limited amount of time we had, we only had the possibility to take the one day cultural experience option.

Coming from Katherine we arrived in Manyallaluk at the end of the afternoon. Asking for a powered site for our campervan we were allocated one, in the middle of the grass, between the trees and near the natural pool. Were are the others? Well, apart from a group of tourists that will shortly go back to Katherine, nobody else except the locals. In fact, only one other family will arrive in the camp before night.

The place is so quite. For the rest of the day we can enjoy the natural pool in company of some friendly locals dogs that love playing. Then, time for the BBQ.

The next morning, we meet John, our Aboriginal guide for the day.
After a refreshing cup of billy tea we are leaving for the bush for a short but informative walk where we are shown bush tucker and medicines that are in season at that time.
Not always easy to understand John, but nevertheless the walk was informative and we had some fun.
Near the end of the walk, we had to go through a bush fire, impressive, for us at least as our guide did not seem to be.

The walk is finishing in a place from where we have a panoramic view from the surrounds and plunging view on the Manyallaluk community.

Just in time for the lunch. I must say that it was a great BBQ style lunch. Kangaroo tail and filet (don't tell that to the children if you wan them to eat...), beef steak, barramundi filet, and a variety of salad.

During the afternoon, several activities are available and you are quite free to jump from one to the other. These are: spear throwing, fire lighting, didgerodoo playing, traditional bark painting, and basket weaving. Just perhaps a small negative comment about some lack of organisation during the afternoon activities (i.e. lack of wood for painting, ...).

The day ends with a visit to the local store where you will find from fresh drinks to local made Aboriginal artifacts.

We are staying for the night. The camp is as quite as the previous one. Except that, during the night we could hear some noise without being really able to know what was creating it. We only discovered what caused this noise in the morning. Some water buffalos came into the camp and 'had some fun'.