Alien, lizard or croc?: Standing reptile at Litchfield National Park baffles tourist

An ‘alien-looking’ creature standing on its hind legs in a Top End creek has left a tourist scratching their head, wondering what species it is. TAKE THE POLL.

A Queensland tourist was left puzzled after sighting a strange looking standing reptile at Florence Falls in Litchfield National Park in April 2025.

An “alien-looking” creature standing on its hind legs in a Litchfield creek has left a tourist scratching their head, wondering what species it is.

The holiday-maker from Queensland, who was on her first trip to the Northern Territory’s Litchfield National Park, had just descended the 160 steps at the entrance of Florence Falls when she crossed a footbridge and spotted the creature.

The animal was no more than 35cm in length, and was standing on its hind legs atop a stone, allowing it to prop its head above the water.

The reptile’s species Florence Falls in Litchfield National Park in April 2025.

“I thought, oh my god, what is that?,” the tourist said.

“Is it a crocodile? It must be a baby crocodile.”

The animal appeared to be smooth in texture, with an absence of ridges or large scales that may have made the tourist’s crocodile theory more likely.

It had a short snout with what appeared to be darker-coloured lines closer to the top of its head.

“The way it was propped up on the rock was (I thought) definitely the way a crocodile would stand,” she said.

“I had never seen a lizard standing in the water like that.

“Because it was a bit far away, I had to zoom in quite far on my phone to get a picture of it.”

She said while she was now sure the reptile had not been a baby croc, the sighting had left her “a little suspicious” before taking a dip in the falls.

Water monitors are known to frequent creeks at Litchfield National Park – as are Gilbert’s dragons.