Explore Mungo
The Mungo Track
- Distance:
- 70 km loop
- Time:
- Most of a day to 2 days
- Method:
- Drive or mountain bike
- Direction:
- One way only (anti-clockwise)
- Starts:
- Mungo Visitor Centre
A four-wheel-drive is not required, but the track may be closed after wet weather.
Be prepared with spare tyres and, if cycling, a puncture repair kit.
The Mungo Track circuit links all the main attractions of the Mungo landscape in an in-depth exploration - perfect for those who really want to get amongst it.
The track takes in a variety of landscapes, heritage features, lookouts and short walks, so a leisurely approach is recommended. The best experience is to take your swag or tent, stove and water and stop overnight at the peaceful Belah Camp, about halfway around the track. Here you can relish the silence and stars of the outback. Stopping overnight will be essential if travelling by mountain bike - unless you're very fit, fast and in a hurry!
Detailed information on what you see along the way is provided on trackside signs, as well as in the leaflet "Driving the Mungo Story".
Route description
The track kicks off at the Visitor Centre/Meeting Place and Mungo Woolshed, then crosses the bed of Lake Mungo to the lunette and the Walls of China. Here a stroll along the boardwalk is recommended, and supervised access to the Walls of China beyond the boardwalk is available through Discovery Tours or a licensed tour operator (but please stay off the fragile towers).
Back on the track, it follows the edge of the old lake southwards and climbs up onto the lunette to the next stop at Red Top Lookout. Here another short boardwalk leads to deeply eroded ravines cutting through the layers of windblown sediment that hold the human and environmental history of Mungo.
Continuing around the back of the lunette, the track traverses the 'backblocks' of Mungo - a mixed landscape of bluebush, grassland, mallee eucalypts and belah-rosewood woodland. You can take a break at the picnic tables and patchy shade of Rosewood Rest or Mallee Stop. From Mallee Stop the Mallee Walk is an easy 500 metre ramble through a variety of mallee species and some spinifex, with informative signs.
At Belah Camp there's plenty of room for camping, many picnic tables, toilets and wispy shade from the Belah trees. Fires are prohibited so if you intend to camp you will need to bring a gas stove.
The next main feature is Round Tank, a remnant of stock watering strategies in this semi-arid climate, now used to lure feral goats into a trap. The Mungo Track then travels out of the mallee into open shrubland with scattered trees and passes Paradise Tank just before the turnoff to Vigars Well which is a must-see. Here is another picnic table. The old well itself is interesting, and a short walk leads to the spectacular dunes that have blown out of the eroding lunette. How many different animal tracks can you find?
After Vigars Well the main track travels along the edge of the flat expanse of Lake Leaghur, stretching away into the distance, and then crosses the ancient channel (since dug out for a tank) that once fed water from Lake Leaghur into Lake Mungo. After descending back to the Mungo lakebed an expansive view opens out along the arc of the Mungo lunette.
Relics of the pastoral days can be explored at the old Zanci homestead and then it's just a short drive back to Mungo Woolshed to complete the loop. But continue on for one more stop, at Mungo Lookout. From the picnic shelter the short track leads to a surprisingly spacious view for such a subdued landscape. Here, just 20 metres above the lakebed, you can see 10 km across Lake Mungo and much of the 30 km long lunette. It's a good place to reflect on all you've seen of the Mungo environment, its long history and all the human stories that have played out here.
