Uluru is a red sandstone monolith, the world's largest at 9.4 km (5.6 miles) around, with smooth slopes rising to 340 metres (1100 feet). For many thousands of years, this rock has been the focus for religious, cultural, territorial, and economic inter-relations among the Aboriginal peoples of the Western Desert. Caves around the base of the Rock were used by Aboriginal people for shelter and which they decorated with paintings.

Twenty two mammal species, 150 bird species, and many arid reptiles, including the second largest lizard in the world, the perentie, inhabit Uluru National Park.

Location: Northern Territory, 450 km/280 miles south-west of Alice Springs

World Heritage Criteria: Natural

Area: 132,566 hectares (327,400 acres)

Fauna

Twenty two native mammals are found in the park including dingo, red kangaroo, common wallaroo, marsupial mole, spinifex hopping mouse, several bat species including Australian false vampire, bilby, occasional short nosed echidna and several small marsupials and native rodents.

The introduced red fox, cat, house mouse and European rabbit, in addition to feral dogs and camels, compete with indigenous species.

Head shot of Perentie Monitor More than 150 bird species have been recorded in the park, of which 66 are considered resident. These include parrots, wrens, thornbills and raptors such as peregrine falcon.

All five Australian reptile families are represented and species include monitor lizard, thorny devil lizard, western brown snake, Ramsay's python and numerous others. Aestivating amphibians such as water-holding frogs are found. Invertebrates are poorly known but include fairy shrimp and shield shrimp which exploit seasonal rock pools

Seasons

Uluru after rain The park experiences two significant seasons: an April to October winter and November to March summer. Mean daily minimum and maximum temperatures are 4°C and 20°C respectively in winter and 22°C and 38°C in summer.

Absolute temperatures range between -5°C and 44°C and frosts are not unusual in June, July and August. Annual rainfall is highly variable, with 140mm in 1970 and 935mm in 1974. Mean annual rainfall from 1969 was 310mm, although this figure probably reflects an unusually wet period. Peak rainfall occurs during winter, whilst mean peak humidity, at about 67%, occurs in June-July. Prevailing winds blow from south-east to north-east in summer and north-east to south-west in winter.

Best Time to Go: March to November

Aboriginal Connections

The park, and in particular the Uluru monolith, is one of several equally important and interconnected centres of local and religious significance scattered throughout the extensive area of western central Australia occupied by Aborigines. Cave paintings on Uluru, some of which are considered to be ancient, indicate the length of time Aborigines have been present in the area.

Traditional religious philosophy, Tjukurpa, provides an interpretation of the present landscape, flora, fauna and natural phenomenon in terms of the journeys and activities of ancestral beings and consequently binds the people socially, spiritually and historically to the land. Tjukurpa also acts as law and imposes a responsibility on the Aborigines to care for the natural environment.

The park is criss-crossed by a network of tracks, marking mythical journeys, which interconnect nodes such as Uluru, the Kata Tjuta and other sites both inside and outside the park. A number of sites are regarded by the Aborigines as secret, thus requiring specific management action. Uluru is also considered a significant symbol of national identity by all Australians.

Getting There

Sixty-four percent of visits are made during the cooler May to September period with 86% of visitors arriving by road and the remainder by air. Tracks, paths and some sealed roads provide access to the monoliths and other sites within the park.

Accommodation

Accommodation inside the park has been closed since 1984 and is now available at Yulara tourist resort north of the park boundary. The average length of stay at Yulara is 1.4 days and 40% of visitors use campsites, 38.5% use hotels and 21% use lodge accommodation.

Activities

The most popular activities are sightseeing, walking, climbing Uluru, scenic flights, sunset and sunrise viewing, driving, picnicking and photography. Interpretation programs are centred at the Park headquarters and the newly built cultural centre (opened in October 1995), and include official guided tours and other services. A major interpretative message is that "Anangu (the Aboriginal people) don't climb" as a way of discouraging tourists from climbing Uluru.

Value

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is considered to be an example of both cultural and natural heritage of universal value. As a cultural landscape, the park represents the combined works of nature and man, manifesting the interaction of humankind and its natural environment and is an outstanding example of traditional human type of settlement and land-use known as hunting and gathering.

The landscape also reflects part of the outcome of millennia of management, using traditional Aboriginal methods governed by the Tjukurpa (the Aboriginal law). While the monoliths are of outstanding scientific and cultural significance, the park also contains and protects a range of desert ecosystems. Within the boundaries of the park, all four principle ecological zones of the region are found.

More Information

For more details about Uluru, visit the Northern Territory Tourism site.

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Uluru (Ayer's Rock)