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Installment One - Water Buffalo Hunt at Gan Gan, NT - 2004

The Location

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is one of Australia’s oldest and most remote areas comprising of 17.5 per cent of Australia’s land mass yet home to only one per cent of its population.

Arnhemland

Arnhemland, the Eastern half of the "Top End" of the Northern Territory is an area of approximtey 97,000 square kilometres is an area owned by its approx 16,000 Aboriginal inhabitants. Largely undeveloped it is home to the oldest living culture on Earth

The Yolngu People still living largely a traditional life with some modern conveniences, first had contact with the outside world through Macassan traders from Sulawesi in modern Indonesia, travelling to the waters to collect trepang.

Early Dutch explorers such as van Colster in 1623 sailed the coasts of the Gulf of Carpentaria and his ship, the "Arnhem" provides the name for Arnhemland.

The Arnhemland Aboriginal Reserve was proclaimed in 1931 and the current reserve is basically the same area with some additions.

Access into Arnhemland is mostly by permit. Hunters hunting with outfitters holding concessions in the region do not need to apply for a separate permit.

"Gan Gan"

Gan Gan is a small township of about a dozen buildings 3 1/2 hours drive South of Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula. Flights from Darwin to Cairns and vice versa stop off at Nhulunbuy in the mornings and evenings respectively. A 4WD road also provides access from Katherine across to Gove.

The camp is located near a billabong in the forested bush a few kilometres 'as the crow flies' from the township and airstrip. Normally hunters charter a plane to arrive in comfort to Gan Gan.

Eastern Arnhemland - the wet lands of Gan Gan are located East of the Bath Range
and inland from the central peninsula of Blue Mud Bay, half way down the coast
on the map

Importantly from the visiting Water Buffalo hunters point of view the Gan Gan areat contains several significant flood plains, rivers and creeks, swamps and billabongs, all contributing to an excellent water buffalo population. About 25 to 30 trophy buffalo are harvested each year from the concession with good numbers of bulls able to be sighted each day in the upper 90's and plus 100 SCI point range. Indeed most hunters are able to take a very good representative bull within the first couple of days of a five day hunt.

The buffalo can vary from wary, nervous and ready to flee at the sight of humans, especially the herds of cows. As the area hunted is only a small part of the total concession bulls wandering into the hunted areas can appear never to have seen a human before! Many approach the hunter on front to try to determine what you are, perhaps not always ideal with such a large animal.

Other animals likely to be seen, or unseen(!) include saltwater crocodiles, wallabies, dingoes and occasional wild boar. Pigs are slowly colonising the region and are less plentiful than in the cattle station country inland.

The coast is nearby and provides beautiful white sandy beaches, azure seas and cooling breezes. Plus plenty of fish in the waters of the seas and rivers for those so inclined.

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