- Where
- Talbot Bay (Ganbadba), Buccaneer Archipelago
Kimberley, Western Australia - Coordinates
- 16.383° S
123.958° E - The gaps
- About 20 m and 10 m wide
(Wikipedia) - Tides
- Up to about 10 m (Wikipedia)
up to 11 m in the marine park (DBCA) - Traditional owners
- Dambimangari
(Dambeemangarddee) - Boats through the gaps
- Narrow gap closed; wide gap
to the end of the 2028 season - Advisory
- Australia Level 1
The ranges were red and folded on their edges, mangroves stood in the mud with their roots out, and the sea, green as an old bottle, heaped against a narrow gap in the hills and poured through it, higher on one side. We kept back and kept quiet, as asked. By afternoon it was pouring just as hard the other way, and I had held my breath through both.
The short answer
The Horizontal Falls are two narrow gaps in the McLarty Ranges, on the shore of Talbot Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago, off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. The Dambimangari, whose Country this is, call the place Garaan-ngaddim. By Wikipedia’s figures the seaward gap is about 20 metres wide and the landward one about 10. The tides here are among the largest in Australia: up to 11 metres in the marine park, by the account of the state’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA). As the tide rises, the sea in the bay climbs faster than it can flow through the gaps into the enclosed water behind them, so it heaps up on one side and pours through in a rapid that Wikipedia gives as up to 4 metres high. When the tide turns, it pours the other way.
Why it's worth knowing
Garaan-ngaddim is a spectacle, and it is also a sacred place. The Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation describes it as mamaa, a powerful, sacred place of extreme cultural significance. In the account it shares with visitors, Garaan-ngaddim was made by the writhing body of the Woongudd woman, the spiritual snake. “Our people lived there all year round,” the corporation has said, “and we still feel their presence.” It asks visitors to be quiet there, and to respect the traditional owners’ obligations to care for Country and culture and to keep visitors safe. Traditionally, by its account, Dambimangari people travelled through the gaps only for a purpose and only at the right time, on neap tides and in smooth water, out of respect for the Woongudd.
For years the best-known way to see the falls was to ride through them in a fast boat. On 27 May 2022 a tourist boat with 28 people aboard crashed into the rock wall at the falls, Wikipedia records, and the ABC reported dozens injured; the skipper and the company were later fined. In October 2023 the traditional owners moved to ban boats from passing through the gaps, the ABC reported, and in March 2024 the Western Australian government announced that boat trips through the falls would be phased out by 2028. In April 2026, in an agreement with the state and the tour operators, the Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation endorsed managed access through the wide gap until the end of the 2028 tourism season, with the narrow gap closed, according to the ABC and the National Indigenous Times; the state committed A$5 million to tourism led by the traditional owners. Access after 2028 is to be reassessed by the corporation and the state.
The field notes
A tide you can watch
DBCA describes the waters off this coast as having one of the largest tidal ranges in Australia, up to 11 metres, and says that the rhythm of daily life here, tour timetables included, moves with the tides. At the gaps, its planning documents say, the water level can differ by up to 5 metres from one side to the other. The big tides also uncover wide intertidal flats, with coral reefs, mangroves and mudflat communities; the marine park, DBCA notes, contains extensive mangroves, which it describes as nursery grounds for many fish and invertebrates.
Sea Country
The falls lie in Lalang-gaddam Marine Park, which DBCA describes as about 1.3 million hectares of Dambeemangarddee Sea Country, from the Buccaneer Archipelago north to the Prince Regent River. It is jointly managed by DBCA and the Dambimangari. DBCA reports that Garaan-ngaddim has the highest visitation of any site in the marine parks, and has set a 7 km drone exclusion zone around it for the safety of the seaplanes and helicopters that use the bay.
Guides from Country
Through the 2025 and 2026 seasons, the Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation has run a cultural tour guide training programme with tour operators, building on a pilot with the operator Journey Beyond that trained Dambimangari guides on Country, according to the corporation and the Western Australian government. The corporation describes the beliefs that guide its people’s care for this coast: that the Wandjina and the Woongudd made the land, the sea and all living things, made the law, and set out how Country and culture are to be looked after.
The tide piling through the narrow gap between the red walls, one side higher than the other.
Photograph: Natalie Siegel-Brown · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
The Kimberley coast from the air: wooded ridges, with mangroves standing in the inlets between them.
Photograph: Natalie Siegel-Brown · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
Islands off the Kimberley coast from the air in the wet season, March 2008.
Photograph: Natalie Siegel-Brown · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Be quiet at the falls. The people whose place it is have asked, and that is all the reason anyone needs.
- Watch from the mouth of the gap, or from the air, and let the water do the travelling.
- Ask what the tide is doing before you ask anything else. Everything here, lunch included, is arranged around it.
- Leave the drone at home. The sky over the bay is busy enough.
- If your guide is from here, ask one question about the place, and let them decide how much of the answer is yours to hear.
The list went into the bay in one order and came back out in another. I have kept the tide's version.
A mangrove on the shore of Talbot Bay. One of the trees that stand in the grey mud at the edge of the bay, their roots arched up out of the silt like the ribs of an upturned basket. At high water the sea covers the mud and climbs up the trunk; at low water the tree stands clear on the flat with its roots showing. The tides here are among the largest in Australia, and the mangroves take the whole of them without moving, while the young fish of the bay shelter among their roots.
Tally, in the marginAt high water I took them for a little drowned wood and felt sorry for them. At low water there they all were, standing up on their own roots over the mud as if they had only been wading.
Getting there
How to get there. Most visitors arrive by seaplane or by boat, DBCA says. Seaplanes fly to Talbot Bay from Broome, Derby and Cygnet Bay, according to Australia’s North West, the regional tourism body; Broome is about 250 km to the south-west. Expedition cruise ships running between Broome, Wyndham, Darwin and Cairns also visit the marine park.
When to go. Tours that combine a seaplane with a boat on the bay run seasonally, from about March to November, and scenic flights over the falls run all year, Australia’s North West says. Within any day, the tide sets the timetable.
What to arrange ahead. A tour with a licensed operator. Entry to the marine park is free, DBCA says, but the Dambimangari Visitor Pass applies on Dambimangari Country and has to be bought before arrival, because there is no public internet or phone access there; tour operators buy it for their passengers, and the corporation says the fees fund its cultural guide programme. Ask your operator how its tour approaches the falls: the narrow gap is closed to boats, and the wide gap is open to licensed operators only to the end of the 2028 season.
Safety. The State Department has Australia at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, describing it as generally a safe destination (advisory dated 18 August 2026). The falls themselves are dangerous water, which DBCA calls a potentially dangerous phenomenon; go with an operator, and keep any drone at home.
Mark this place
Common questions
What causes the Horizontal Falls?
The Horizontal Falls on Talbot Bay, Western Australia, are caused by tides of up to about 10 metres that rise and fall faster than the sea can flow through two narrow gaps in the McLarty Ranges. The water heaps up on one side and pours through in a rapid up to 4 metres high, by Wikipedia’s figures, and reverses direction when the tide turns.
Where are the Horizontal Falls?
The Horizontal Falls are in Talbot Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago, on the Kimberley coast of Western Australia, about 250 km north-east of Broome. They lie within Lalang-gaddam Marine Park, which is jointly managed by the state’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and the Dambimangari traditional owners.
What is the Aboriginal name for the Horizontal Falls?
The Dambimangari traditional owners call the Horizontal Falls Garaan-ngaddim. The Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation describes it as mamaa, a powerful, sacred place, and asks visitors to be quiet there and to respect the traditional owners’ obligations to care for Country and culture.
Can you still take a boat through the Horizontal Falls?
Only through the wide gap, and only until the end of the 2028 tourism season. In April 2026 the Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation endorsed managed access through the wide gap at Garaan-ngaddim for existing licensed operators until then; the narrow gap is closed to boats. Access after 2028 is to be reassessed by the corporation and the Western Australian government.
Why are boat trips through the Horizontal Falls ending?
The Western Australian government announced in March 2024 that boat trips through the Horizontal Falls would be phased out, citing the dangers and the sacred significance of the site to the Dambimangari. In May 2022 a tourist boat with 28 people aboard crashed into the rock wall at the falls, injuring dozens. In 2023 the traditional owners had moved to ban boats from the gaps.
How do you get to the Horizontal Falls?
The Horizontal Falls in Western Australia’s Kimberley are reached by seaplane from Broome, Derby or Cygnet Bay, or by boat, including expedition cruise ships. Seaplane-and-boat tours run from about March to November, and scenic flights over the falls run all year, according to Australia’s North West, the regional tourism body.
Do you need a permit to visit the Horizontal Falls?
Entry to Lalang-gaddam Marine Park, which contains the Horizontal Falls, is free, according to Western Australia’s parks department. The Dambimangari Visitor Pass, sold by the Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation, applies on Dambimangari Country and must be bought before arrival; tour operators buy it for their passengers.
Is it safe to visit the Horizontal Falls?
The U.S. State Department has Australia at Level 1, exercise normal precautions (advisory dated 18 August 2026). The falls themselves are dangerous water: Western Australia’s parks department calls them a potentially dangerous phenomenon, and a 7 km drone exclusion zone surrounds them for the safety of seaplanes and helicopters.