Located 450 kilometers from Alice Springs in Central Australia National park"Kata Tiyuta" has many attractions on its territory. Ayers rock (new. Uluru), which stands out in the middle of the Australian desert, is the most famous of them.
What are the features of Mount Uluru in Australia? You can find out about this and some of the facts associated with it by reading the information provided in the article.
General information about the nature of Central Australia
These are endless deserts with thorny bushes and low trees, with salt water lakes scattered everywhere. As you move through these expanses, canyons and mountains with strange shapes can suddenly appear.
In its very depths there is a surprisingly beautiful and mysterious area - the Red Center. It is full of the most unique natural wonders. Numerous tourists from all over the world come to this place every year, although the weather here is unusually hot.
Australia's mountain peaks are neither famous nor popular with climbers, however, they are unusual. Any indigenous Australian will name Uluru (Red Mountain) as a symbol of Central Australia.
A bit of history
Mount Uluru is a huge rock formation that arose about 680 million years ago at the bottom of Amadius, an ancient lake. This miracle of nature, destroyed by sharp temperature changes and winds, rises in the very center of the desert area, violating the monotony of the landscape. European scientists found it and described it in 1873, giving the name Ayers Rock. This amazing red mountain has been home to many tribes. The aborigines who inhabited these lands 10,000 years ago lived in caves at the foot of the mountain. They revered this rock as the cradle of life. A spring of water gushing out of the rock gave them the essentials for survival. And today the inhabitants of this area regularly conduct their sacred rites at its foot.
Officially, this rock belongs to the Anangu tribe, who leased this park to the government (for 99 years). Every year, the authorities pay the aborigines $ 75,000 with a 20% surcharge for each ticket sold. The indigenous people are happy to support the development of tourism.
Description of Mount Uluru: photo
In its shape, it is similar to a lying elephant. From afar, the mountain looks absolutely smooth, but when approaching it, all cracks, irregularities, roughness and furrows become visible. Consists of a unique block of red sandstone that can change its color depending on the lighting.
Uluru is the world's largest solid rock. Its length is 3600 meters, its width is about 3000 m, and its height is 350 m. Its sides are cut vertically by furrows reaching 2 meters deep. On the walls of the rocks today you can see many drawings that have survived from ancient times. They depict the deities revered by the aborigines, and some scenes from their lives.
Ancient sacred altars can be seen in the many caves that dot the base of the mountain.
Peculiarities
Mount Uluru is a kind of gigantic monolith that rises above a uniform flat surface. He attracts hundreds of thousands of people with his main feature- the ability to change color during the day. At dawn, in the rays of the rising sun, the black mountain gradually turns into dark purple. Further, as the star rises through the sky, the color becomes blood red, and then pink. When the sun reaches its highest point, the rock turns gold. The play of colors is also celebrated in the afternoon. Only when the sun leaves the horizon does the giant stone block turn black again. It should be noted that during the rain Uluru turns blue with a lilac tint.
The bizarre nature of this area is also due to the fact that under this colossus there are underground lakes that come to the surface only in some places. These are small bodies of water inside the caves.
It should be noted also the peculiarity climatic conditions terrain. Although the area is a desert, heavy rains and hurricanes are frequent. And the temperature in these places fluctuates quite strongly per day. With a daytime heat of 38 degrees, the nights are very cold here. In connection with these phenomena, many cracks appear on the stone.
Mount Uluru is on the list of UNESCO sites.
Excursions for tourists
In order for tourists to see this magnificent natural show in flowers, special viewing places have been arranged at a distance from the mountain.
After the construction of a high-speed railway through the desert area, tourists flooded here, the number of which is growing every year. Here you can order a walking tour of the surroundings, during which the natives tell many local legends. You can also take a tourist route accompanied by an experienced guide to the very top of the mountain, but this trip is not safe. In total, the ascent lasts about two hours under scorching sun... There have been cases when tourists died as a result of sunstroke. Falls from Mount Uluru in Australia are not uncommon.
Ancient cave paintings almost disappeared. This is due to the fact that earlier the walls were doused with water by excursion guides so that the image looked clearer. As a result, Bottom part pictures began to fade. But this was noticed in time and it was forbidden to commit such actions.
Several versions of what Uluru is:
- "Mountain iceberg", connecting underground with the neighboring mountain Olga.
- A meteorite crashing into the ground.
- A small remnant of the oldest mountain range (particles of rock have spread around the area over millions of years, and the remaining rock, which has undergone erosion, has acquired its current rounded shape).
Everyone who has visited Australia notes that this country is a collection of everything unusual, unique, which is worth many hours of flight and money spent. And the Uluru Rock is perhaps the most unusual miraculous phenomenon in the entire Australian continent.
It is located in the very center of Australia, 18 kilometers from the town of Yulara. Unusual is not only its appearance, location, but also the history of origin, myths, and even mystical properties that the aborigines attribute to it.
On an absolutely flat plain, this rock rises, in outlines resembling a sleeping elephant. Or maybe not asleep, but dead in the middle of a lifeless desert. The fantasy of nature is sometimes much more inventive than the human one.
Its dimensions are also similar to a giant animal: length - 3.6 km, height - 348 meters, width - about 3 km. This is all that remains of the great Patterman mountain range. The composition of the rock was also quite unusual, which at one time caused a lot of controversy about the origin of the rock.
The unique mountain giant consists of red sandstone, of which a considerable part is quartz and iron oxide. Due to this composition, the mountain changes its color several times a day. The first rays of the morning sun make it dark purple, purple-red, at noon the rock takes on the color of gold, and at dusk it is an almost black mountain against the backdrop of the desert.
Origin story
The first European to see the rock in 1872 was Ernest Giles. I saw it, but I could not get to it, I just described it in my travel notes... A year later, another Englishman, William Goss, not only reached it, but also climbed to its top. He gave the rock the name Ayrs Rock, in honor of the future Prime Minister Henry Ayrs. This official name still exists today, along with the ancient Uluru, whose return was achieved by the aborigines of the Anangu tribe.
This tribe has lived in these places since time immemorial. The rock carvings are dated by specialists around the eighth century BC. And the age of the rock itself is 680 million years.
Thanks to the spring gushing at the foot of Uluru, life in the desert was more or less acceptable for the tribe. A spring gushing in the middle of the desert, a changing color of the rock, unusual outlines - all this, apparently, was the reason why the aborigines considered the mountain sacred.
Here and now mystical rituals and grief is invariably attributed to magical properties... Since 1985, the rock has been officially leased to the Australian government for 99 years. The rent is hefty ($ 75,000 a year), but so many tourists visit the rock every year that the aborigines are not inclined to complain.
The money left by the "black ants" (as they call tourists) not only covers the rent, but also allows the entire tribe to live comfortably.
There are still scientific disputes about the geological origin of the rock. The main question is whether the mountain is a monolith or is it connected with another mountain range - Mount Olga - located nearby. Scientists have not yet come to an unambiguous conclusion. Mount Olga, by the way, got its name in honor of the wife of Emperor Charles the First, daughter of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I, Grand Duchess Olga.
The most plausible version of the origin of the rock is as follows: the once existing island in the middle of the lake gradually collapsed, the rock was compressed at the bottom, and when the lake dried up, what was left of the island became visible. Changes in temperature, wind and downpours have completed the image of the rock to its present appearance.
The origin of the name of the rock also remains unclear to the end. Most likely, Uluru does not mean anything and is a proper name. But there are opinions that in the language of one of the tribes "Uluru" - this is "mountain".
Myths and legends
Of course, none of these versions were ever taken seriously by the natives. They are sure that the mountain is the dwelling of a deity and treat it like a shrine. It is difficult to say what is of paramount importance here, sincere belief in the ancient gods, or a simple and understandable desire to attract tourists, but ananga invariably supports the divine version of the mountain's origin and retells numerous legends about it to tourists.
Legend of the origin of the rock
When Uluru was still not so big, two tribes lived at its foot: Mala and Kunia. Once the shamans of the Vindulka tribe, who lived nearby, decided to arrange a grand celebration and invited the aborigines Mala, Kunia and Lyra to it. It was not possible to reach the holiday.
The lizard women of the Lyru tribe were very popular with the men of Mala and Kunia. Apparently, the sympathy was mutual and everyone forgot about the holiday in the Vindulka tribe. The shamans of the Vindulka tribe were so offended that they used all their magical powers to avenge the insult. They called for help from giant dogs and snakes, and they literally destroyed both tribes in a day. And Uluru has since become huge, absorbing the souls of all the killed in its bowels.
The aborigines explain the appearance of cracks and caves simply: these are the very souls that are tearing out of the rock and it is cracking.
On one of the slopes of the mountain there are several round dents, similar to the footprints of a giant animal. The natives believe that these are the traces of the monster dog Kura-Punya, which at night tried to sneak up on the hunters unnoticed. The bird Kukaburra saved the hunters from the attack and inevitable death, waking them up with its cry.
The natives also believe that the rock is the habitat of powerful divine animals, the Water Python and the Black Monitor.
Of course, believing in the divine nature of Uluru, the natives never climb a rock, believing that this will bring them misfortune. They also warn numerous tourists about this, who ventured to go to the top. Believe it or not, it's a personal matter, but you should still not overestimate your strengths. After all, every year tourists die here: someone breaks down from a cliff, and someone's heart refuses at the top.
Anangu see it as their mission to preserve the place of the spiritual power of the ancestors. There are places at the foot of the cliff that are closed for viewing and photographing. These are ritual caves where rituals and initiation of members of the tribe are performed.
How to get to the Uluru rock
Massively, tourists began to visit the rock from the middle of the last century, when the highway to the central part of Australia was completed. Before that, only the most stubborn travelers made it to Uluru.
From any city in Australia, you can fly to the small Connellan Airport, located next to the National Park. From there, take a regular bus to the rock.
From the city of Alice Springs, located three hundred kilometers from Uluru, the cliff can be reached by bus or car.
Entertainment for tourists
The rock can be viewed from a height by paying for a helicopter tour.
There are several routes of varying difficulty for climbing the mountain, but it is worth remembering that some of them may be closed due to high temperature air or strong wind... Although the natives do not interfere, they have a sharply negative attitude to such ascents, considering them sacrilege.
Several years ago, the aborigines closed the rock for tourists for several weeks. This happened when the leader of the tribe died and the Ananda performed a burial ritual. Despite the resistance of the authorities, the tribe still managed to agree on this pause in endless stream tourists. In addition, the ascent is quite dangerous, so it is worth realistically assessing your capabilities.
To observe the play of colors during the day and to take photographs of the rock in different time days, you can stay at one of the viewing platforms. There are even separate Sunsets and Sunrises excursions with drinks and food included.
Aborigines of the Anangu tribe happily pose for tourists for photographs. Of course, for a fee.
Tourists often take stones from the cliff with them as a souvenir. But there were times when especially impressionable people returned them by sending them back, believing that they brought them misfortune.
Location on the map
Opening hours
Uluru Rock is open to the public every day from 5-6 a.m. to 7-8 p.m. depending on the season. It is better to come here for 2-3 days in order to have time to see the rock at different times of the day. And you can stay in the town of Yulara, where hotels, restaurants and cafes work for tourists.
A ticket to visit Uluru Rock is AUD $ 25. The ticket is valid for three days from the date of purchase.
The life of the aborigines of Australia, their traditions and way of life is still little studied. It is all the more significant that ordinary tourists from all over the world can come to the places of their primordial residence and personally hear ancient legends, see a unique place where their ancestors prayed to their gods for thousands of years, imbued with the atmosphere of a spiritual center and take with them the memory of an unusual rock, similar to sleeping elephant.
Ayers Rock is located in the heart of the Australian continent in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. In the middle of the desert rises an orange-brown mountain that resembles a fireball that seems to have fallen from the sky onto the plain. Scientists have concluded that Ayers Rock formed about 680 million years ago. Long time it was part of the Peterman mountain range, which is almost destroyed natural forces.
Ayers Rock is 348 meters high, 2.4 km long and 1.6 km wide.
For a long time, people made legends about the origin of this unusual mountain monolith. Today scientists have come to the conclusion that it is a product of erosion. They attribute it to the remnants of rock massifs. The difference between Ayers Rock and other remnants is its impressive size. Anyone who is lucky enough to see this legendary rock has a feeling of unreality. Especially striking is the amazing property of Ayers Rock to change its color during the day. He, like a chameleon, can be pink, fiery red, brown, blue and purple.
This unique mountain, isolated from all mountain ranges, is located in Central Australia, in the very south of the Northern Territory - a special federal object of the state. Ayers Rock is visited by almost every tourist who comes to the mainland. This is due to its convenient location in the center of the continent: 18 km north of the attraction is the small resort of Yulara with developed infrastructure and its own airport.
What is Ayers Rock
There are several versions of the origin of the mountain, the main of which are the following:
- According to scientists, in ancient times, the Uluru rock was a part of a mountain range that formed an entire island on the Amadius salt lake. The peculiarity of this reservoir is that it dries up both in ancient times and now in the dry season. Researchers speculate that erosion - gradual weathering - led to the formation of Australia's famous Ayers Rock. rocks... For centuries, the products of the destruction of minerals have been deposited at the bottom of the lake, forming a huge rock.
- Some ufologists believe that Mount Ayers Rock in the photo looks too unusual and mysterious, so it cannot have an earthly origin. After all, outwardly, the rock is very reminiscent of a huge elephant that has fallen on its side. According to their calculations, it is a giant meteorite that landed on the plain several thousand years ago, or even a product of the activities of alien civilizations.
The cliff rises to a height of almost 350 m.To get around it around the perimeter, you have to be patient: length Uluru mountains(as the Australian aborigines call it) is almost 4 km, and the width is 3 km. It is an imposing rock formation of an unusual oval shape, which is approximately 700 million years old.
Interestingly, the rock got its European name in honor of Henry Ayers, who ruled the province. South australia... The scientist William Goss decided to immortalize the name of the outstanding politician in the 1870s, but the indigenous people in the second half of the twentieth century insisted on returning the Uluru monolith to its original name.
From a distance, the top looks absolutely smooth, but if you come closer to it, microscopic cracks and quite noticeable grooves are noticeable on the surface. They are located parallel to each other, and the depth of some of them reaches 2 m. At the base of the Uluru rock are some of the most mysterious caves in Australia, decorated with original cave paintings and patterns carved directly into the stone.
Although the mountain rises in the middle of the desert region, hurricanes and heavy rains rage here every year. Therefore, be sure to check the weather forecast before traveling. Climate near Ayers Rock It impresses with significant temperature fluctuations: at night it is very cold here, up to frost, and during the day the thermometer can rise to +38 ° С. During the trip, be sure to bring along both warm clothes (if you are planning evening walks) and sunscreen so as not to get burned.
The cracking of the monolith is also explained by similar weather conditions. When heated, expansion occurs natural stone, at night it is sharply replaced by its compression due to the sharp cooling. The rock itself is made of reddish sandstone, constantly changing its color depending on the degree of light. Throughout the day, its color varies from deep purple and purple to pink and gold. Metamorphoses of color continue constantly throughout the day, and at night Uluru turns into a giant dark tower against the backdrop of the desert.
Ayers Rock sandstone has a coarse-grained structure and is a degradation product of natural granite. It contains quartz minerals, feldspar and iron oxides, giving the summit a characteristic reddish-brown hue.
Place of power
Although Uluru has long been a member of national park and belongs to tourist sites, for the aborigines of Australia, the mountain has a truly sacred value.
According to the myths of the natives, the python, who lived in a local reservoir, was considered the owner of the rock, and a black monitor lizard settled on the slopes. In honor of these sacred animals, local residents still hold ceremonies at the foot of Ayers Rock in our time.
The Anangu tribe, who has lived here since time immemorial, to Uluru special attitude... Their legends say that it was created by fabulous giants. Thanks to a spring gushing from the bowels of the earth and secluded caves, the ancestors of modern aborigines were able to survive in an unfriendly desert, so the rock is revered by their descendants as a nurse. Numerous representatives of the Australian fauna still come to the spring at the base of the rock.
In certain places of the mountain, you can see interesting samples of rock art depicting the native gods: Mala, Kuniya and Lyra. According to legend, they took the form of a kangaroo, python and brown snake, respectively.
Excursions to Ayers Rock
A trip to Uluru can be conveniently combined with a tour of the Kata Tjuta nature reserve. It is located more than 450 km from the small town of Alice Springs. Local guides will happily take you to the top of the cliff along a rather steep path, about 2 km long, overlooking the nearby desert and small groves of acacias and eucalyptus trees at the foot. Here you can also see huge dents in the stone, reminiscent of the footprints of giant animals and giants.
After that, you will be offered to explore other attractions of Kata Tjuta, since the transition to them will be quite quick. Particularly among them are 36 small rocks that form a dome and occupy an area of about 40 km 2. The height of the dome is over 500 m.
Entrance to the territory of Kata Tjuta Park, where Ayers Rock is located, is paid. The reserve is open for inspection all year round... The ticket price is:
- for an adult - 25 AUD;
- for a child from 5 to 15 years old - 12.5 AUD;
- for children under 4 years old - free;
- family ticket - 65 AUD.
Experts recommend visiting Uluru from May to September, when the weather remains quite warm, however, it rarely rains and you don't have to get there through the mud. From December to February, the weather is very hot, so it is best to go on such a trip before 11.00 and take with you more water... The park is open for visits from 5.00 to 19.30-21.00, depending on the month. There are several hotels and restaurants in the vicinity of Uluru.
How to get to the Uluru rock
There are two ways to get to Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta National Park:
- By plane. The local airport regularly receives Virgin Blue and Jestar flights from Sydney. The flight takes no more than 3 hours. Ayers Rock Airport provides a car rental service.
- By car. Traveling on the Adelaide-Ayers Rock Auto Route will be very enjoyable as you will see the sights of Alice Springs, the Royal Canyon and other famous landmarks in Australia. The journey from Alice Springs to Uluru takes 4.5 hours.
A trip to Ayers Rock will give you the most complete picture of Australia's extraordinary nature, landscape and climate.
In the center of Australia there is a giant rock formation Ayers Rock, which is one of the most ancient sites crust our planet. It was formed back in the Archean era - 680 million years ago. An oval rock, towering in the middle of a flat desert, resembles in its shape a giant elephant lying on its side. At its base there are many caves with ancient rock paintings. Mount Ayers Rock is Australia's most famous symbol. This impressive massif is 348 m high, over 3.5 km long and 3 km wide. The slopes of Mount Ayers Rock are practically steep. From a distance it looks almost smooth, however, from close up it becomes noticeable that it is dotted with grooves, grooves and cracks.
The opportunity for tourists to get to this attraction of Australia appeared only in 1950, after the construction of the highway was completed. Officially, Ayers Rock belongs to the Anangu tribe, who call this mountain Uluru. Aboriginal people consider it sacred, so they do not welcome tourists who climb it. Despite this, in accordance with the agreement concluded with the government, local residents do not prevent tourists from all over the world from getting to know this miracle. Aborigines associate many legends with Uluru. One of them says that Uluru was created in ancient times by giants, and communication with this mountain gives a person special strength.
The unique rock consists of red sandstone - a mineral that has special properties, thanks to which the rock, depending on the lighting, changes its color. At dawn, the silhouette of the mountain takes on a dark purple color. During the day, illuminated by the bright sun, Uluru turns purple-red or flashes pink... It becomes golden by noon. The amazing play of color does not stop all day. You can endlessly photograph the rock, and in each picture you get real Martian postcards, looking at which it is difficult to believe that these bright colours are simply the result of its unique mineral composition.
The traveler Ernest Giles saw Uluru for the first time in 1872. However, he could not get to its foot. A year later, William Goss, an English explorer, climbed to the top of this rock, and it was he who gave it the name Ayers Rock. The first tourists appeared here only in 1950. Today, the unique rock is visited by up to 0.5 million people a year.