Dynamite News Australia's Uluru opens to climbers for last time ahead of ban
Hundreds of tourists clambered up Australia’s Uluru on Friday, the day before a permanent ban on climbing the sacred rock takes effect following a decades-long fight by indigenous people to close the trek.
Yulara: Hundreds of tourists clambered up Australia’s Uluru on Friday, the day before a permanent ban on climbing the sacred rock takes effect following a decades-long fight by indigenous people to close the trek.
The UNESCO World Heritage-listed 348-metre (1,142-ft) monolith, formerly known as Ayers Rock, is a top tourist draw in Australia despite its remote desert location near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.
Authorities opened the climb mid-morning amid clear skies, after blustery conditions delayed early trekkers. While most visitors do not climb Uluru’s steep, red-ochre flanks, the impending Oct. 26 ban has triggered an upsurge in people taking a final opportunity to make the trek. Nearly 400,000 visitors flocked to the Australian landmark in the year to end-June, government data shows.
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“You want to respect the cultural side of things, but still you want to have it as a challenge to get up the rock,” she told Reuters.
American tourist Kathleen Kostroski said she would not climb because it would be “sacrilegious” to do so.
“It’s a violation against mother nature, first of all and secondly, against the aboriginal indigenous people here,” she said.
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Dozens of people have died while climbing Uluru, from falls and dehydration in the hot, dry conditions. Summer temperatures often top 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The closure was announced two years ago when fewer than 20 percent of visitors were making the climb. To commemorate the climbing ban the park will conduct public celebrations over the weekend. It was an emotional day, said indigenous ranger Tijiangu Thomas.
“Happiness is the majority feeling, knowing that people are no longer going to be disrespecting the rock and the culture - and being safe.”
The Oct. 26 closure marks 34 years since the land was given back to the Anangu people, an important moment in the struggle by indigenous groups to retrieve their homelands.(Reuters)