From now on you can't climb Uluru. And a good thing too. The traditional owners have been extremely patient on this issue.
The rock is an important sacred site for the Anangu people of central Australia. Quite apart from that, for years the rock has mostly been forbidden to climbers because so many people required medical treatment for injuries or dehydration after making the attempt when it was hot or windy. Uluru is a large site and despite its fame and popularity, still quite isolated. No wonder the management had qualms about people climbing.
Me, my sister and her husband circumnavigating the Rock.
You don't have to climb the rock to enjoy it. It is spectacular and interesting at ground level.
My Mum, relaxing at the base of the Rock a decade ago.
Apparently the nationality most likely to climb Uluru in the past were Australians. Foreign tourists have read the literature and have considerably more respect for the traditional culture of the Australian desert than the average urban Australian on holiday.
Fewer than a quarter of visitors climbed the rock anyway, so I don't suppose there will be any noticeable impact on tourist numbers.
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2 comments:
I've walked around the base, but what really sticks in the memory is the extraordinary variation in surface textures in various places, and how the red colour turns into various shades of brown and purple when seen from a distance as the evening shadows lengthen. This is one example where "leave nothing but footprints" is perhaps still too intrusive.
It is beautiful country. I love it.
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