Monsoon Forest and Woodlands Walk

Easy

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A walking track through monsoon forest and Top End woodland habitats around Berry Springs, an easy day trip from Darwin often combined with a visit to the neighbouring Territory Wildlife Park, per the NT Government's Berry Springs Nature Park page.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

1 km

Est. time

15 min

Elevation gain

5 m

Route type

Loop

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Berry Springs Nature Park, Berry Springs, NT. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

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Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

TyphoniumDocumented on this trail

Typhonium praetermissum

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NT: Vulnerable▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, NT: Vulnerable

Typhonium is a genus in the family Araceae native to eastern and southern Asia, New Guinea, and Australia. It is most often found growing in wooded areas.SpeciesTyphonium acetosella Gagnep. - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam Typhonium adnatum Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium albidinervium C.Z.Tang & H.Li - Guangdong, Hainan, Laos, Thailand Typhonium albispathum Bogner - Thailand Typhonium alismifolium F.Muell. - Queensland, Northern Territory Typhonium angustilobum F.Muell. - Queensland, New Guinea Typhonium bachmaense V.D.Nguyen & Hett. - Vietnam Typhonium baoshanense Z.L.Dao & H.Li - Yunnan Typhonium blumei Nicolson & Sivad. - Japan, Taiwan, Ryukyu Islands, much of China, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam; naturalized in Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros, Borneo, Philippines, West Indies Typhonium bognerianum J.Murata & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium brownii Schott - Queensland, New South Wales Typhonium bulbiferum Dalzell - southern India Typhonium circinnatum Hett. & J.Mood - Vietnam Typhonium cochleare A.Hay - Northern Territory of Australia Typhonium cordifolium S.Y.Hu - Thailand Typhonium digitatum Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium echinulatum Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium eliosurum (F.Muell. ex Benth.) O.D.Evans - New South Wales Typhonium filiforme Ridl. - Thailand, Malaysia Typhonium flagelliforme (G.Lodd.) Blume - Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, New Guinea, Queensland, Northern Territory Typhonium fultum Ridl. - Thailand, Malaysia Typhonium gagnepainii J.Murata & Sookch. - Thailand, Cambodia Typhonium gallowayi Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium glaucum Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium griseum Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium hayatae Sriboonma & J.Murata - Vietnam Typhonium huense Nguyen & Croat - Vietnam Typhonium hunanense H.Li & Z.Q.Liu - Hunan Typhonium inopinatum Prain - India, Myanmar, Thailand Typhonium jinpingense Z.L.Wang, H.Li & F.H.Bian - Yunnan Typhonium johnsonianum A.Hay & S.M.Taylor - Northern Territory of Australia Typhonium jonesii A.Hay - Northern Territory of Australia Typhonium laoticum Gagnep. - Thailand, Laos Typhonium liliifolium F.Muell. ex Schott - Northern Territory, Western Australia Typhonium lineare Hett. & V.D.Nguyen - Vietnam Typhonium listeri Prain - Assam, Bangladesh, Myanmar Typhonium medusae Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium mirabile (A.Hay) A.Hay - Melville Island of Australia Typhonium neogracile J.Murata - Assam, Bangladesh, Myanmar Typhonium nudibaccatum A.Hay - Western Australia Typhonium orbifolium Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium pedatisectum Gage - Myanmar Typhonium pedunculatum Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium peltandroides A.Hay, M.D.Barrett & R.L.Barrett - Western Australia Typhonium penicillatum V.D.Nguyen & Hett. - Vietnam Typhonium pottingeri Prain - Myanmar Typhonium praecox J.Murata - Myanmar Typhonium praetermissum A.Hay - Northern Territory of Australia Typhonium pusillum Sookch., V.D.Nguyen & Hett. - Thailand Typhonium reflexum Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium roxburghii Schott - Taiwan, Yunnan, Bonin Islands, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Andaman Islands, Thailand, Malaysia, western Indonesia, Philippines, New Guinea; naturalized in Western Australia, eastern Brazil, Tanzania Typhonium russell-smithii A.Hay - Northern Territory of Australia Typhonium sagittariifolium Gagnep. - Thailand Typhonium saraburiensis Sookch., Hett. & J.Murata - Thailand Typhonium sinhabaedyae Hett. & A.Galloway - Thailand Typhonium smitinandii Sookch. & J.Murata - Thailand Typhonium stigmatilobatum V.D.Nguyen - Vietnam Typhonium subglobosum Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium taylorii A.Hay - Northern Territory of Australia Typhonium trifoliatum F.T.Wang & H.S.Lo ex H.Li, Y.Shiao & S.L.Tseng - Mongolia, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi Typhonium trilobatum (L.) Schott - southern China, Indian Subcontinent, Indochina; naturalized in Windward Islands, Ivory Coast, Borneo, Philippines Typhonium tubispathum Hett. & A.Galloway - Thailand Typhonium varians Hett. & Sookch. - Thailand Typhonium vermiforme V.D.Nguyen & Croat - Vietnam Typhonium violifolium Gagnep. - Myanmar, Thailand Typhonium watanabei J.Murata, Sookch. & Hett. - Thailand Typhonium weipanum A.Hay - Queensland Typhonium wilbertii A.Hay - Queensland

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Berry Springs Nature Park (Atlas of Living Australia, 2021) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Araceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Typhonium

Spiral Pandanus

Pandanus spiralis

Top End screw palm▾

Top End screw palm

A small tree of northern Australia's savanna woodlands and floodplain margins, growing to about 10 m with strap-like leaves crowded and spiralling toward the branch tips. Its segmented fruit ripens to orange or red and is a traditional food and fibre source for Aboriginal people.

How to spot it

Leaves 1-2 m long and 4-7 cm wide, spirally arranged with sharp spines along the margins and midrib; dead leaves hang in a skirt below the crown, and leaf-base scars spiral visibly down the trunk.

Family Pandanaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Pandanus spiralis

Rob Foster, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Darwin Stringybark

Eucalyptus tetrodonta

Dominant Top End woodland eucalypt▾

Dominant Top End woodland eucalypt

A tall eucalypt, usually 9-25 m, that forms the backbone of open woodland across the Top End alongside Darwin Woollybutt. Its Yolngu name gadayka means 'the word', reflecting its cultural importance.

How to spot it

Rough, stringy or fibrous grey-over-reddish-brown bark on trunk and branches; dull bluish-green lance-shaped leaves in opposite pairs; flower buds in groups of three with whitish-cream flowers; woody cylindrical fruit capsules.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Eucalyptus tetrodonta

G.W. Wilson, CC BY 3.0 AU, via Wikimedia Commons

Sand Palm

Livistona humilis

Fire-tolerant Top End endemic palm▾

Fire-tolerant Top End endemic palm

A small, slender fan palm endemic to the Top End of the Northern Territory, growing to about 7 m with 8-15 fan-shaped fronds. It is fire tolerant and typically grows in open eucalypt woodland that burns regularly.

How to spot it

Slender single trunk 5-8 cm across topped with 8-15 fan-shaped leaves 30-50 cm long on long petioles; small yellow flowers followed by shiny purple-black fruit; found on sandy and lateritic soils in open woodland.

Family Arecaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Livistona humilis

J Brew, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Weeping Paperbark

Melaleuca leucadendra

Riverine paperbark of Top End waterways▾

Riverine paperbark of Top End waterways

A large tree over 20 m tall with thick white papery bark and weeping branches, lining rivers, creeks and floodplain margins across the Top End. Cream to greenish-white flower spikes appear along the branches.

How to spot it

Thick, papery, peeling white-to-cream bark; alternate narrow lance-shaped leaves 75-270 mm long with 5-9 longitudinal veins; cream flower spikes; woody capsule clusters along the stems. Look for it fringing rivers and billabongs.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Melaleuca leucadendra

Ethel Aardvark, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Green Plum

Buchanania obovata

Ancient Top End bush-food tree▾

Ancient Top End bush-food tree

A small to medium understorey tree of northern Australian woodlands, best known as a long-standing Aboriginal bush food - archaeological evidence shows its fruit has been eaten for over 53,000 years.

How to spot it

Smooth, thick, leathery broadly oblong leaves 5-25 cm long; small cream flowers about 0.5 cm across; smooth, fleshy, lens-shaped fruit around 1-1.7 cm long that ripens through the dry season.

Family Anacardiaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Buchanania obovata

MargaretRDonald, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Freshwater Mangrove

Barringtonia acutangula

Freshwater spring-line tree▾

Freshwater spring-line tree

A tree of freshwater wetlands and spring-fed watercourses across northern Australia and southern Asia, growing 8-15 m tall with thick oval leaves and long drooping racemes of showy white-to-crimson flowers.

How to spot it

Thick, smooth, oval leaves 8-12 cm long with reddish leaf stalks; drooping flower racemes up to 50 cm long; oval fruit around 3 cm long. Found lining permanent spring-fed pools and creeklines.

Family Lecythidaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Barringtonia acutangula

Nguyen Quang Tuan, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Mertens' Water Monitor

Varanus mertensi

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, QLD: Endangered, WA: Endangered, NT: Vulnerable▾

Endangered — AUS: Endangered, QLD: Endangered, WA: Endangered, NT: Vulnerable

Mertens' water monitor is a species of monitor lizard in the family Varanidae. The species is native to northern Australia, and is a wide-ranging, actively foraging, opportunistic predator of aquatic and riparian habitats. It is named after German herpetologist Robert Mertens.

How to spot it

Mertens' water monitor grows to a total length (tail included) of about 2.0 m (6.6 ft). It is dark brown to black above, with many cream to yellow spots. The underparts are paler – white to yellowish – with grey mottling on the throat and blue-grey bars on the chest. The tail is strongly compressed laterally, with a high median dorsal keel, and is about 1.5 times the length of head and body. Amongst all monitor species, including even the water monitors of the subgenus Soterosaurus, Mertens' wat

Family Varanidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Mertens' Water Monitor

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC-BY-NC 4.0 (Int)), collected by Rosario Douglas

Horsfield's Bushlark

Mirafra javanica

Vulnerable — NT: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — NT: Vulnerable

The singing bush lark or Horsfield's bush lark is a species of lark which inhabits grassland throughout most of Australia and much of Southeast Asia. It was described by the American naturalist Thomas Horsfield.

How to spot it

Real occurrence confirmed near Berry Springs Nature Park (Atlas of Living Australia, date unrecorded) — no separate physical description was available on Wikipedia for this species, see the source link for more.

Family Alaudidae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Mirafra javanica

Golden-Backed Tree-Rat

Mesembriomys macrurus

Critically Endangered — WA: Near-Threatened, NT: Critically Endangered▾

Critically Endangered — WA: Near-Threatened, NT: Critically Endangered

The golden-backed tree rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae, found only in Australia.

How to spot it

Golden-backed tree rats are named for their broad stripe of golden-coloured fur that runs from the top of its head to the base of their tail, of which has a white brush tip. They are nocturnal and arboreal. During day, they sleep in their nests made in hollow trees, dense foliage or among rocks. They range in size from 18 to 34 cm with a 29 to 36 cm tail, and weigh 200-330 grams. Golden-backed tree rats are thought to breed throughout the year, with a gestation period of 48 days and litter size

Family Muridae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Mesembriomys macrurus