{"id":830605,"date":"2026-07-28T03:52:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T03:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830605\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T03:52:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T03:52:20","slug":"video-of-close-encounter-at-kakadus-cahills-crossing-sparks-fresh-warning-against-complacency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/830605\/","title":{"rendered":"Video of close encounter at Kakadu’s Cahills Crossing sparks fresh warning against complacency"},"content":{"rendered":"

A close encounter between a large saltwater crocodile and a group of people at an infamous Top End river crossing has prompted renewed warnings for visitors to the area to be vigilant.<\/p>\n

A video filmed on Friday at Cahills Crossing in Kakadu National Park shows the crocodile swimming directly towards a family, including three young children, standing near the water’s edge.<\/p>\n

The crocodile then swims parallel to them as they move away, before stopping just metres from the causeway.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cahills Crossing is a popular spot for viewing crocodiles in the Top End. (Supplied: @tristans_gone_filming)<\/p>\n

Crocodile expert Grahame Webb, who has worked with crocodiles in the NT for decades, said the saltie was likely following a nearby fisherman’s lure, not the people on the water’s edge.<\/p>\n

“If the croc was coming right at the kids, trying to grab them off the bank \u2026 it would probably dive and swim right up next to them underwater,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This croc looked like it was ready to run something down, which is what they do if they’re hunting something that’s swimming.”<\/p>\n

\"Grahame<\/p>\n

Grahame Webb says visitors to Cahills Crossing should be conscious of safety and stay away from the water’s edge. (ABC News: Tristan Hooft)<\/p>\n

Professor Webb said despite the popularity of Cahills Crossing as a fishing and tourist location, standing on the edge of the water there was never completely safe.<\/p>\n

“I think most parents in the Northern Territory would be herding their kids back as soon as the croc turned to head in that direction,” he said.<\/p>\n

Cahills Crossing visitors urged to be careful<\/p>\n

Cahills Crossing is a low-level vehicle bridge across the East Alligator River in Kakadu which is well-known for its high population of crocodiles.<\/p>\n

There have long been concerns about risky behaviour at the site<\/a>, which have continued despite the construction of a $3 million viewing platform in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

There are signs at Cahills Crossing warning visitors about dangerous crocodile activity in the area. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

Tour guide David McMahon, whose business operates in Kakadu, told ABC Radio Darwin locals and visitors at Cahills Crossing were complacent about crocodiles “year after year”.<\/p>\n

“There’s this big, beautiful viewing platform, you get a really good view of the crossing, but people insist on breaking the rules, heading down right to the edge of the water,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s only a matter of time [until there’s an attack].”<\/p>\n

Fines could increase for Kakadu visitors who ignore crocodile risk<\/a><\/p>\n

Rangers in Kakadu could crack down on visitors who are too relaxed around crocodiles inside the national park, with recent footage showing people close to the water’s edge at the notorious Cahills Crossing.<\/p>\n

Mitch Owens, the owner of a fishing tour business in Kakadu, agreed.<\/p>\n

“People think it’s not going to happen to them, but at some stage, someone’s going to be wrong about that.”<\/p>\n

He told ABC Radio Darwin the issue was not with the management of crocodiles, but people’s attitudes towards them.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think you can do a hell of a lot more. At some point, people have just got to take some responsibility for their own actions,” he said.<\/p>\n

Professor Webb said the way the Northern Territory managed crocodiles was “treated globally as exemplary”, and despite the risks the reptiles posed, there was no need for more regulation.<\/p>\n

“We manage crocs up here in a way that’s tailored to the people up here. You can’t manage it how people in Canberra think about it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The Territory is just so different than the other states, and it’s something that we want to maintain. A little bit of the frontier spirit still exists up here.”<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

He said most tourists were aware of the risks posed by crocodiles, and the most dangerous behaviour often came from locals.<\/p>\n

“With local people, a little bit of misadventure takes place. Tourists are far more conscious to the dangers, so that’s why, given the number of crocs and the number of people, we have a very, very low rate of attacks,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re proactive about making sure it stays like that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A close encounter between a large saltwater crocodile and a group of people at an infamous Top End…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,290194,48,290195,290196,290199,32092,290193,290198,9645,290197,66,29680,323],"class_list":["post-830605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-cahills-crossing","tag-canada","tag-croc-attacks","tag-croc-crossing","tag-croc-safety","tag-crocodiles","tag-kakadu","tag-kakadu-crocodiles","tag-nt","tag-nt-crocodiles","tag-science","tag-water-safety","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=830605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}