Endeavour River National Park Tropical North Queensland

Photo credit: Briony Masters © Queensland Government

Things to do

    Camping and accommodation

    Camping

    There is no camping in Endeavour River National Park.

    Other accommodation

    A range of accommodation exists at Cooktown including motels, hotels and caravan parks. For more information see the tourism information links.

    Boating and fishing

    Endeavour River National Park is best explored by boat. There are two boat ramps at the Cooktown waterfront. Visitors need to be aware of snags, sand and rock bars and rough conditions.

    Marine waters adjacent to Endeavour River National Park are internationally significant and are protected in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Zones in the two marine parks—the Great Barrier Reef Coast and Great Barrier Reef—provide a balanced approach to protecting the marine and intertidal environments while allowing recreational and commercial use. Check zoning maps and information before entering or conducting any activities, including fishing, in the marine parks.

    Bag and size limits also apply. For details of bag and size limits for fish species see Queensland Fisheries.

    Viewing wildlife

    Relax and enjoy nature in this undeveloped park. Visitors can hear and see a great array of plants and animals because of the diverse habitats around the river. Animals find refuge and feed in freshwater wetlands, coastal dunes, mangroves, heathlands and woodlands.

    Flowering heaths, melaleucas, mangroves, eucalypts and wattles provide nectar and insects for striped possums (Dactylopsila trivirgata), sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps), bats, phascogales, bandicoots, honeyeaters and parrots.

    Reptiles and amphibians are common. Skinks and geckoes hunt insects, while pythons stalk mammals and birds in grasslands and forests. Estaurine crocodiles are often seen sunning themselves on the river bank. Marbled frogs (Limnodynastes convexiusculus), ornate burrowing frogs (Limnodynastes ornatus), and scarlet sided pobblebonk frogs (Limnodynastes terraereginae), are three ‘wetland indicator’ frog species attracted to the park’s swamps and streams. Marbled frogs (Limnodynastes convexiusculus), northern sedgefrogs (Litoria bicolor) and mimicking gungans (Uperoleia mimula), also live in the woodlands or grasslands.

    The park is also abundant in birdlife with its close proximity to the sea. Sea-eagles, terns, beach-stone curlews (Esacus neglectus), sandpipers, whimbrels, and tattlers can often be seen either flying or feeding on the shore. Along the river and swamps see plovers, darters (Anhinga melanogaster), ibises, egrets and night-herons. Around the forests there are fantails, lorikeets, friarbirds, wrens, bowerbirds, cuckoos, figbirds, orioles, mistletoe birds (Dicaeum hirundinaceum), and sunbirds (Nectorinia jugularis).

    • There are currently no park alerts for this park.