One of the most special things about the Douglas Shire is the enduring strength of Kuku Yalanji culture and the way it is shared with visitors. Across the region, Indigenous-led experiences offer a rare glimpse into one of the world’s oldest living cultures, with the Ngadiku Dreamtime Walk at Mossman Gorge among the most powerful.
Guiding the experience is Angelina Sipi, a Kuku Yalanji woman and one of the few female tour guides from her community.
With warmth and pride, she welcomes visitors to the Gorge, not just the gateway to the Daintree, but a place of deep cultural and spiritual significance. It is a living classroom where ancient knowledge is passed down through stories, demonstrations, and quiet observation.
The Ngadiku Dreamtime Walk, meaning “stories and legends from a long time ago” in Kuku Yalanji, is more than a forest walk. Led by Traditional Owners, it follows private tracks through sacred sites, traditional shelters, and freshwater streams, offering a journey rich in culture and meaning.
“Many women in my community are too shy to step forward, but they have the knowledge too.”
Angelina grew up in the Kuku Yalanji community near the Gorge, about 40 households, immersed from a young age in language, dance, bush food, and tradition. Her uncles and great-uncles were among the first in her family to guide here, passing down knowledge through storytelling and hands-on learning.
“Most of the guides before me were male,” she says. “But this place, this culture, has always been part of my life. Now it is my turn to pass it on.”
When the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre opened in 2012, she joined the café after completing a hospitality traineeship through the (CAPTA Group) National Indigenous Training Academy (NITA). Later, encouraged by others who saw her cultural knowledge, she stepped into guiding. “I remember my first tour, 24 people, a big group. But I did well, I was not shy. After that, I never looked back.”
Her tours weave traditional plant knowledge, bush food identification, ochre painting, and storytelling, sharing only what cultural protocol permits from the women’s side. “Some things are just for women, and some for men,” she says, honouring these traditions with respect and pride.
A favourite moment is painting symbols with ochre, charcoal, and clay while speaking about women’s business, healing waters, and the rainforest’s spirit. “I want people to leave with more than information,” she says. “A real cultural experience they will remember.”
She is also a proud dancer and a female leader of her community’s dance group. “Dancing is storytelling,” she says. “It connects me to the land, to Mother Earth, to who I am. I feel vibrations through my body when I perform and it always makes me emotional, in a good way.”
Cultural preservation is central to her mission. As a young community director, she helps pass on language, art, and traditions. “We meet weekly,” she says, “boys learning didgeridoo, girls learning stories. It is getting stronger.”
That knowledge-sharing is alive in her family too. Her eldest, 18, will soon join the guiding team. “It makes me proud to walk beside her,” she says. Even her youngest, just eight, dreams of guiding, while the middle child is set to follow a path as an Indigenous artist.
“I think many women in my community are too shy to step forward,” she says. “But they have the knowledge too. I want to show we can share our stories, be proud, and stand strong.”
Once inspired by Elder Roy on tour bus ads, she is now the face on posters and screens. “It is important for women to be seen,” she says. “After my daughter, I hope to inspire more Kuku Yalanji women. Our stories carry our knowledge and our Elders’ voices, and we must keep sharing them.”
All Douglas Shire Council residents are welcome to explore the Mossman Gorge with free entry and shuttle service to all locals.
To learn more or book a tour, click here.