Ayers Rock: a day at Uluru

Sacred for millennia to the Anangu people, Uluru dominates Australia's red desert: since 2019 it has been off-limits for climbing, out of respect for its spiritual meaning.

Distances in the park require a car or organized tour.

At sunrise, the path that runs the entire base of Uluru, approximately ten kilometers, allows you to observe up close caves, waterholes, and rock paintings sacred to the Anangu people.

At the nearby Cultural Centre, stories and works by traditional inhabitants explain why climbing has been prohibited after decades of requests by the community.

Moving westward you reach Kata Tjuta, a group of thirty-six sandstone domes no less sacred than Uluru, traversable along the narrow Walpa Gorge path.

Toward evening, returning toward Uluru, the Field of Light installation lights tens of thousands of luminous spheres in the desert just as the monolith changes color at sunset.

Uluru changes hue several times in the course of the same day, from opaque brown in the morning to vivid red at sunset: an effect due to the oxidation of iron in the rock, not a trick of light.

The Field of Light, originally conceived as a temporary installation for just a few months, has been extended multiple times due to its public success, remaining lit every evening now for years.