Danggu Gorge

Geikie Gorge

Useful Information

Location:	Geikie Gorge Road, Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, 6765. Danggu (Geikie) Gorge National Park, Kimberley region of Western Australia. Highway 1 to Fitzroy Crossing, Highway 350 20 km to the park. (-18.1058964, 125.7004435)
Open:	MAY to mid-JAN daily. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Gorge
Light:	n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Danggu Gorge, Geikie Gorge Road, Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, 6765, Tel: +61-8-9191-5112. Broome Parks and Wildlife Office, Tel: +61-9195-5500. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2023	flood of Fitzroy River causes closure of the gorge.

Description

Danggu Gorge is located in the Napier Range, 20 km from Fitzroy Crossing. Fitzroy Crossing is a small village on Highway 1, the Northern Highway, where it crosses Fitzroy river, hence the name. This gorge is probably the best-known and most easily accessible gorge in the region. But it is closed every year between JAN and MAY weather dependent, as the river rises every wet season up to 16.5 m. This phenomenon is so common that the walls of the gorge are white in the lower 15 metres, where regular flooding has polished the limestone white. During the wet season the park including the access road is closed. But as it depends on the weather it is not published as open hours, it’s actually a "park alert".

The gorge is 8 km long and about 30 m deep, and was created by the Fitzroy River. The whole area is protected by the Danggu (Geikie) Gorge National Park. From Fitzroy Crossing there is a short road to the entrance of the gorge, where a parking lot and a jetty are located. The gorge is typically explored by boat or by walking on the sandbank, a short challenging walk on the uneven, sandy surface.

The gorge was formerly known as Geikie Gorge, and older guidebooks may use this name. Some pages on the web use the combination Danggu (Geikie) Gorge. We created this page also with the old name, but as we were not able to collect enough info for a description 20 years ago, we have decided to create a new page with the new name. The name Geikie Gorge was given to the gorge by the British settlers, the actual name used by the local Bunuba Aboriginal people is Dan͟ggu. It means "the area where the water is very deep under the cave". The same with Fitzroy River, which is actually named Bandaraln͟garri. The Bunuba are the traditional owners and are joint park managers.

The park has a lot of wildlife like fresh water fish, crocodiles and stingrays. While fresh water crocs are actually quite dangerous, if they are not disturbed they are considered to be no threat. Visitors even swim off the sandbanks north of the parking lot! Nevertheless, we recommend to download and read the Crocodiles information guide from their website. The park is also home to fruit bats and a rich variety of birds. The typical plants growing here are river gum trees, freshwater mangroves, native figs and pandanus.

Heavy rainfall at the end of December 2022 and beginning of January 2023 intensified by tropical cyclone Ellie caused an extraordinary high flood. The parking lot and buildings were damaged and the park was closed to the public. After some repair works it was reopened in 2024 with limited infrastructure, only the car park and toilets, but after some more work it is now fully operational again.

The hills consist of Devonian reef limestone, some 250 Ma old.