Sunset and Sunrise at Uluru
Uluru is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. It is located in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, 350 km southwest of Alice Springs. It is the second-largest monolith in the world (after Mount Augustus, also in Australia), more than 318 m high and 8 km around. It also extends 2.5 km into the ground. It was described by explorer Ernest Giles in 1872 as "the remarkable pebble". As much as I love this expression to me it was something I had never seen before. The red colors of the sand, the clear blue sky without one single cloud and the green bushes painted a truly fascinating picture which could be best enjoyed riding a camel at one of the countless camel farms.
Camel Shami
Uluru is an inselberg, literally "island mountain", an isolated remnant left after the slow erosion of an original mountain range. But besides this geographical uniqueness, it is one of the most sacred places for Aborigines and today one of the most touristic parks in Australia.
In Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming or Altjeringa (also called the Dreamtime) is a sacred 'once upon a time' time out of time in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation. The Dreamtime contains many parts: It is the story of things that have happened, how the universe came to be, how human beings were created and how the Creator intended for humans to function within the cosmos. I was impressed by the dreamtime story about the formation of the Rock.
Uluru: Scars from the Battle of Kuniya and Liru:
Long, long ago, in the time of the Tjukurpa (The Dreamtime or creation period), there was a young woma python (Kuniya) snakeboy who was surprised and ambushed by a group of Liru (which are venomous snakes). The Liru threw spears at the Kuniya and killed him. So hard did they throw their spears that the points made holes in the Uluru rock. (see the holes made in Uluru by the points of the Lirus' spears).
The boy's aunt, a Kuniya woma pythonwoman, was so angry and chased the Lirus. She slid in, caught up and killed one of the Liru with her stick with a blow to the head. You can see her sliding in as a dark wavy line on Uluru. The blood flowing from the head of the dying Liru can also be seen.
Reading and learning about the Aborigine culture was fascinating. Never have I met such a different culture. But, at the same time you see the Aborigines in Alice Springs and as sad as it is to admit, they were all drunk. Their culture is so different to that of ours that it must be unbelievable difficult for them to understand and fit in. One Aborigine woman we saw falling over earlier came over to us and asked if she could have a lighter. Then she started telling us a strange story that had us guessing if she worked as a cleaner or prostitute.
What upset me the most was the abuse of this sacred place. Uluru is the only National Park you have to pay entry for. And what is worse is that the tourist companies legitimize this by saying that the money goes into maintaining the Park and give a better life to the Aborigines. A few years ago the Australian government gave back the Park to the Aborigines with the agreement that they leave it open for 99 years for tourism. I am not sure how sincere this gesture was, because it seems like they were only trying to bring back authenticity while at the same time exploiting this opportunity. This is not only visible in the way it is managed (Aborigines do not want us to climb the Rock, nonetheless it is possible to climb all over it), but also the Monopoly the Hotels and Hostel built. With only desert around and no other option, but to stay at a hostel that costs twice as much as a hostel in the city center of Sydney, tourists will leave Ayers Rock with empty pockets and a lot of new impressions.
Kata Tjuta (meaning 'many heads') is part of the World Heritage National Park Uluru. It is a very sacred men's place relating to knowledge that is considered very powerful and dangerous.
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