43. When a rainbow hugs Uluru (Ayers Rock)

By Filipe Morato Gomes	Where is Uluru?
In a visit to the semi-arid heart of Australia, I sleep in the open air in the middle of nowhere under an immensely starred sky, near the stunning Kings Canyon, the curious Olgas and the reddish Uluru. The Australian Outback is incredible. But I also watch tourists that, unfortunately, doesn't show any respect for the beliefs and traditional laws of the Anangu indigenous people.

I left Alice Springs heading to Australian most important tourist icon: Uluru. Or Ayers Rock, as the Europeans called it. It's a huge stone that springs up from the plain soil with their famous reddish colours that become livelier at sunset. One might say it's just a rock in the deserted heart of a big country, in the middle of nowhere, far from any trace of civilization. It can be but Uluru is - no doubt about it! - a very special place. And a holly one.

The spectacular Olgas rock formation

The first sight of Uluru happened at the end of the morning, when the light was bad for photography and the heat was in its height. We'd come back later to explore the famous red rock but we continued first towards the Olgas, a curious rocky formation with round-like shape and colouration similar to Uluru. Together with twenty other young travellers, I walked along the base of the Olgas under a scorching heat. It's amazing that a landscape can be so dry, so brutal and, at the same time, so beautiful.

The most fascinating moment of the journey along Central Australia was reserved for a bit later, when we went up Kings Canyon, a great gorge in Watarrka National Park. Due to reasons one can easily guess looking at it, the path which led to the top of Kings Canyon was called “heart attack”. Once up there, the sight was fabulous. With one's eyes, one could reach miles and miles of plains lacking vegetation. Reddish, pastel colours prevailed, and even the normal flushness of the plants seemed discoloured because of the lack of water. We walked along both slopes of the gorge and it was absolutely amazing. More than any other landscape in the region, going along the top of King Canyon proved to be breathtaking.

We spent two brilliant days and nights, completely fulfilled, sleeping in the open air in the middle of nowhere under an immensely starred sky. Without any tents, the sleeping-bags were laid out around a welcome fire. We were in total synchrony with the Australian outback.

A rainbow over Uluru

On the way back to Uluru, at another day's sunset, the climate conditions seemed not to want to help the amateur photographers who were waiting for the famous reddish colours. The heavy sky prevented the sun beams from reaching the rock and an irritating out-of-season rain had, meanwhile, started to fall. The high class tourists went back to their big coaches with the champagne glasses splashed with water. I foresaw a big collective disillusion. But suddenly, for brief minutes, the rain got weaker and the sunbeams found their way amongst the dark clouds. All of a sudden, a wonderful double rainbow was formed and hugged Uluru completely. A gift from the aboriginal gods, I thought. “I have seen here more than a hundred sunsets and this is for sure one of the most spectacular ones”, a local guide guaranteed.

However, not everything was harmonious in my passage though the Australian outback. Sometimes tourists tend to adopt inappropriate attitudes towards different cultures and different values. The Kata Tjuta National Park, where Uluru is situated, has been aboriginal soil for millenniums. It is a land inhabited by the Anangu people and the Anangu ask visitors not to climb up Uluru because, for them, Uluru is a deeply holly place.

A traveller enjoying the view at Kings Canyon

Tjukurpa - Anangu traditional law that explains the existence, the creation of the world and establishes the laws for daily life, for the appropriate behaviour of people among themselves and between each of them and their land - prevents people from climbing up to the top. The Anangu people do not climb up Uluru and simply ask visitors to respect them and their traditional laws. Besides, prohibiting is not part of their way of being. But, in spite of all the appeals, one could see almost all the time a group of tourists going up or coming down the big rock, ignoring the requests of the legitimate owners of the place. The view up there might be spectacular but there should be more respect for the natives' laws.

(originally written in Portuguese)

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