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Wilderness sanctuary in South Australia
Photo: via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Arkaroola or Arkaroola Station is a very small town in a wilderness sanctuary in the Northern Flinders Ranges about 130 km from Leigh Creek, in South Australia.
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Arkaroola offers a number of 6 or 7 guided 4 WD tours of which the most famous is the Ridgetop Tour.
Arkaroola has about 100 km of 4WD tracks and a number of suggested itineraries for 4WD most are free but there is a charge for the Echo camp track
Arkaroola permits people to walk throughout the Sanctuary but they suggest itineraries for 4 or 5 half-day walks and one full day. Which one to choose? If you intend going on the 4WD Ridgetop tour it might be better to undertake some of the walks which traverse creeks and gorges rather than the high country as you certainly see plenty of ridgetops on the ridgetop tour! One of the half day walks; Barraranna Circuit walk takes you through Arkaroola creek which has a great picnic area where Bararranna gorge meets Arkaroola creek and you may well have yellow footed wallabies chaperoning you. A detour from the circuit takes you to Bararranna waterhole. Some scrambling and rock hopping is needed to get to the waterhole but the effort is well rewarded, the waterhole has an eerie waterhole at the end of the world feel.
Scenic flights are available both over the Sanctuary and beyond to the surrounding salt lakes and deserts.
Arkaroola Resort permits camping on the creek for about $20 per night
There is a range of accommodation from neat and functional motel style rooms for $90 per night up to several hundred dollars per night for fancier rooms.
Arkaroola is very far from everywhere else. The nearest major city is Adelaide, some 600 km and a full day's driving (around 8 hours) away. Arkaroola has a helipad and an airstrip, but neither has scheduled services.
Read in the guideArkaroola is very small and as such everything is within a few hundred metres walking distance.
Read in the guideArticles and travel topics about Arkaroola and Australia.
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