After years of repeated pleads from the Aborigines, the only response coming from climbers is their increasing trash contribution.
The indigenous Anangu people, preserving 30,000 years of tradition, took the matter in their own hands even two years ago. Displaying less and less hope that their appeals would bear fruit, the board of management of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park unanimously voted against further permission of climbing. The site of such extraordinary importance for the spiritual identity of the people should not endure any further mistreatment. The ban is to take effect starting from October 26, 2019.
The great red rock dominates the view. The board members allowed that to be the main reason for the tourists’ interest in it. But there is much more to be seen in the National Park, without violating the feelings of the custodian people. Their ancestors are believed to have made tracks through the park. Those tracks may be used as walking trails to recreate the feeling of immersion into oneness with nature. The trails lead around and between Kata Tjuta’s largest domes, which are wondrous by themselves.
Visitors are invited to witness rock art sites with painted pictures, symbols, and figures, products of ancient crafts, and techniques that they rarely use today.
The region is endowed with a variety of ornithological life, with almost 180 recorded species, including several rare ones. Therefore, one of the main attractions offered in the park is birdwatching.
The visitors are also welcomed to enjoy the Field of Light by the artist Bruce Munro, on display to the end of December 2020. Covering more than seven football fields, with 50,000 spindles of light, during sunset and at night it emits ochre, violet, blue and white. No one can say that the indigenous Anangu are not welcoming to anything new and modern. They seem so, as long as it remains respectful to their tradition and believes and works with them for mutual benefit, not against it.