Red Center, Australia

Australia's Broken Heart


in the shadow of the cliff
Guide Chief over a small headland in Kings Canyon.
Uluru-Ayers Rock
Sacred to the Anangu Aboriginals of the Red Centre, the Uluru Archery Rock is 873 meters high and has a circumference of 9.4 km.
walk under threat
Group walks on a path in Kata Tjuta, protected from infernal flies by nets.
Shade and sun at the Outback
Red Center rock outlines drawn against a trail of setting sun.
stone hill
Another strange rocky outcrop of Kata Tjuta.
leader in persimmon
Guide Chief leads a group of visitors to Kata Tjuta National Park.
Greenery and dryness
A dead tree juts out from the inhospitable scenery of Kata Tjuta.
aboriginal melody
Native plays didjeridu.
australian queue
Group travels the heated, arduous surface of Kings Canyon.
Finally, rest
Friends rest by the Garden of Eden lagoon in an inner canyon of Kings Canyon.
the olgas
The rocks of Kata Tjuta lit up at sunset.
Camel Outback Safaris
Airy camel shelter in a roadside bar in Erdlunda.
sighting
Two visitors peer over the reddish cliffs of Kata Djuta.
Uncertain course
Isolated or lost couple walk through an ocher platform in Kings Canyon.
Outback Desert
Chief surveys the landscape over roadside dunes in the vicinity of Erdlunda.
Kata Tjuta or The Olgas
The imposing cliffs of Kata Tjuta from a shaded canyon.
aussie accident
Travelers examine what might have been the result of a phenomenal road accident.
halo and silhouette
The monumental shadow of the Uluru/Ayers Rock.
Chief in Erdlunda
Guide Chief comes out of a roadside bar in Erldunda.
Royal Canyon
One of Kings Canyon's reddish canyons.
The Red Center is home to some of Australia's must-see natural landmarks. We are impressed by the grandeur of the scenarios but also by the renewed incompatibility of its two civilizations.

Chief arrives on time.

He is quick to safeguard the integrity of his image: “I was told that two journalists were coming. That I had to present myself and behave properly! Let's see what can be done”.

Although originally from New Zealand, your figure couldn't be more ozzie. He laughs uncomplexedly at the top of his ninety-something meter.

He wears a tight shirt and mini-shorts, both in khaki, worn by the kilometers traveled in the desert, dirty with stains that it is time to wash. The tall, dusty, yellowish fur boots and an old hat Akubra they are the last notes of a costume created and retouched by Outback.

Kings Canyon, Chief, Headland, Red Centre, Heart, Australia.

Guide Chief over a small headland in Kings Canyon.

Had he arrived at the right time, Chief could have been one of the fearless pioneers who blazed through Australia's interior and built the city from which we were to set out to discover the Northern Territory.

It was no accident that Alice Springs emerged in the geometric center of Australia.

The Arduous Colonization of the Australian Red Center

In the second half of the XNUMXth century, much of the south was colonized. The center and part of the North were still unknown domains, occupied exclusively by the aboriginal ancestral guardians.

In 1861-62, John McDouall Stuart led an expedition into the heart of the desert. He would eventually become the first European to cross Australia from south to north. And he established the route that would make way for the telegraph line programmed to link Adelaide to Darwin and Darwin to Great Britain.

Later, the discovery of river gold in large quantities, about 100 km away, gave rise to a fixed population around Stuart, as the colony would be named. The end of the gold meant that the village moved to close to the cable car station.

Erdlunda camel shelter, bar, road, Red centre, heart, Australia.

Airy camel shelter in a roadside bar in Erdlunda.

This village, in turn, was named Alice Springs, in honor of the wife of the postmaster and the springs that irrigated the vast surrounding oasis.

These were rough times, dominated by uncertainty and in which the prevailing dryness of the landscape called for creative solutions. Accordingly, the pioneering authorities resolved import camels from northwestern former British India – Pakistan today. They were led in long caravans by immigrants from the Pathan tribes, incorrectly called Afghan camel drivers.

These caravans solved the problem of lack of water for some time. Over the years, they became unnecessary. Camels were abandoned or lost.

They multiplied and spread across the desert, in such a way that they exist today in greater numbers in Australia than in many Arab countries.

Alice Springs: The Urban Core of the Red Center

Alice – as she is affectionately treated – spreads along the often dry bed of the Todd River. It's made up of low-rise buildings, warehouses, and ground-floor commercial complexes that block out little or nothing against the blue sky. Other dominant businesses are bars, tourist agencies and art galleries.

At first glance, everything seems normal, but the apparently dysfunctional presence of the aboriginal community causes, in this tourist center, more discomfort than in other places in the Northern Territory.

native, aborigine, didjeridu, red centre, heart, australia

Native plays didjeridu.

It proves difficult for newly arrived visitors to understand why they spend their time sitting on the grass in the gardens or in front of shops and service stations.

They are hard to accept the primitive ways and their inability to deal with the marginalization to which they were voted by the Western civilization that uprooted them with no return.

Aboriginal Misfit on Their Own Land

Here, as elsewhere in Australia, the Australian government has apologized and is trying to redeem itself. It pays for the sins committed in Australian dollars and with the return of land that it appropriated during the period in which it maintained a law that equated the aborigines with the fauna and flora.

Here, as across Australia, the measures are far from solving anything.

During the initial leg of the trip, Chief confesses: “… I don't always do this. I work with the Alice Springs Aboriginal prison community. I am one of the few who knows and accepts them”.

He also confesses that, even so, he has difficulty answering the questions and prejudiced remarks of Australian and foreign tourists.

It tries to make them aware of the value of the aborigines, explaining to outsiders, in the most emblematic places, the fascinating mythological culture of the indigenous people.

Uluru – Ayers Rock. The Ever Controversial Question of Ascension

“I can't believe this!” Kevin repeats one last time, after uttering a series of curses.

As soon as you wake up and leave your swag (Australian sleeping bag), the little Korean is faced with the greatest frustration. After a year of working on Sydney like an automaton, he dreamed of the highlight of the trip: contemplating the Red Center from the top of Uluru.

Uluru, Ayers Rock, Red Centre, Heart, Australia

Sacred to the Anangu Aboriginals of the Red Centre, the Uluru Archery Rock is 873 meters high and has a circumference of 9.4 km.

This morning, the shrill hiss of the bush Australian sounded like bad news.

The afternoon before, Chief, it had been pretty clear. On behalf of the Anangu aborigines, he asked everyone not to go upstairs. He also clarified that he would only prevent anyone who wanted to do so if weather conditions determined it.

Contrary to predictions, instead of calming down, the wind picked up during the night. At dawn, park authorities closed access to the trail and made life easier for the guide.

At first glance simple, the theme of the ascents to Ayers Rock – as the colonists of British origin called it after the Chief Secretary of South Australia of 1873 – is, in fact, quite complex.

It reflects the sensitive relationship that the descendants of Australian settlers have with the Indians.

bar road, erdlunda, red centre, heart, australia.

Guide Chief comes out of a roadside bar in Erldunda.

Uluru – Ayers Rock: A Rock in Australia's Broken Heart

In 1983, Prime Minister Bob Hawke promised to return that particular land to its traditional owners. It agreed to a ten-point plan that included a ban on climbing Uluru.

In good political fashion, the promise was quickly forgotten. Before official restitution, ninety-nine years of concession were imposed instead of the fifty agreed upon with the aborigines.

Access to the top of Uluru was eventually allowed, so as not to go against the wishes of thousands of younger visitors or simply in good physical shape.

The Spiritual Meaning of Uluru for Anangu Aboriginals

The Anangu aborigines, the ancestral protectors of the cliff and surrounding space, do not climb it.

They avoid doing this because of the great spiritual significance of Uluru. According to your beliefs, pass at the top, a trail of your Dreamtime (the mythological past). They also banned their climbing for reasons of responsibility for the safety of those they host.

Over the years, against the will of the aborigines, the climbs have already claimed 35 victims. In each of the fatalities, the aborigines expressed sadness. Despite the grief of the indigenous, the Australians are a people used to living with adventure and risk. Accordingly, at the time, no total and absolute prohibition was foreseen for the park rangers to put into practice.

Situated in the southwestern corner of the vast Northern Territory, in the heart of the Outback, this strange island of Arcose, as emblematic as it is homogeneous and compact, has survived millions of years of erosion that erased from the map a gigantic but much more vulnerable surrounding massif. to wear.

With a maximum height of 348m and a circumference of 9.4km, the formation is even more intriguing as it changes color throughout the day and seasons of the year, as different light spectra hit it.

Uluru, Ayers Rock, silhouette, Red centre, Heart, Australia.

The monumental shadow of the Uluru/Ayers Rock.

Denial of Superstition around Uluru and Repentance

Too many of its nearly 400.000 annual visitors cannot resist the cliff's visual and mythological fascination.

Even warned by the guides about the curse that haunts the life of those who remove stones from Uluru, they prefer to take risks and commit the crime.

Chief develops one of his favorite themes for us, with unsurpassed sarcasm: “… even funnier is that, out of conscience or mere precaution, many people regret it.

Then, back in their homes, they spend worlds and funds trying to return them to the rock. They send them by mail to the agencies they traveled with and ask them to replace them…”

The obstacles raised by aboriginal beliefs tjukurpa it does not stop there, however.

Around the rock mount there are springs, caves, small natural water deposits and cave paintings. But despite the abundance of motifs, photography is restricted in several sections where the Anangu perform gender-related rituals and where they do not admit people of the opposite sex.

Erdlunda chief road, Red centre, heart, Australia.

Chief surveys the landscape over roadside dunes in the vicinity of Erdlunda.

The aim is to prevent millenary taboos from being broken, as indigenous peoples will inevitably come to find images of their sacred places in what they call the outside world.

Kata Djuta: The Other Sacred Colossus of the Red Center

Just 25km to the west, accessible via the same Lasseter Highway that leads to Uluru/Ayers Rock and then along Luritja Road, another whim of the Red Center imposes itself on the ever-blue sky of the Red Centre. Terra australis.

It is Kata Tjuta (Aboriginal pittjantjajara dialect for “many heads”), a sequence of huge thirty-six red rocks covering an area of ​​almost 27 km² and having as their highest point 1066m above sea level of Monte Olga. 

This elevation, in particular, gave rise to “The Olgas”, the western name given to the setting.

At the height of the Australian summer, in the middle of the afternoon, the sun also beats down mercilessly here.

kata tjuta, the olgas, sunset, red centre, heart, australia

The rocks of Kata Tjuta lit up at sunset.

Against all common sense, it revitalizes the infernal Outback flies that plague visitors during their walks through the rocks.

The fame of the insects is such that many arrive armed with nets with which they cover their heads and thus reinforce the Martian exoticism of the place.

kata tjuta, flies, protection, net, group, red centre, heart, australia.

Group walks on a path in Kata Tjuta, protected from infernal flies by nets.

We devote the entire morning to exploring Kings Canyon, a rugged, visual territory Western situated in the George Gill Range, still southwest of Alice Springs.

The new walk begins with the conquest of Heart Attack Hill, named for its inclination, unsuitable for cardiac patients.

It continues for 5km along the gorges, the labyrinthine plateaus of the “city” and the slopes and stairways carved into the rock of the Amphitheater.

kings canyon, red centre, heart, australia

One of Kings Canyon's reddish canyons.

We only interrupt it, to rest, at the edge of the Garden of Eden, a lake surrounded by dense vegetation that breaks the ocher domain of the landscape.

From there, finally, we return to the starting point of the circuit and Alice Springs.

In the capital of the Red Centre, another long but fascinating one awaits us road stage: the northern half of the Stuart Highway.

road accident, visitors, Red centre, heart, Australia

Travelers examine what might have been the result of a phenomenal road accident.

Sydney, Australia

From the Exile of Criminals to an Exemplary City

The first of the Australian colonies was built by exiled inmates. Today, Sydney's Aussies boast former convicts of their family tree and pride themselves on the cosmopolitan prosperity of the megalopolis they inhabit.
Melbourne, Australia

An "Asienated" Australia

Cultural capital aussie, Melbourne is also frequently voted the best quality of life city in the world. Nearly a million eastern emigrants took advantage of this immaculate welcome.
Discovering tassie, Part 1 - Hobart, Australia

Australia's Backdoor

Hobart, the capital of Tasmania and the southernmost of Australia, was colonized by thousands of convicts from England. Unsurprisingly, its population maintains a strong admiration for marginal ways of life.
Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia

Stuart Road, on its way to Australia's Top End

Do Red Center to the tropical Top End, the Stuart Highway road travels more than 1.500km lonely through Australia. Along this route, the Northern Territory radically changes its look but remains faithful to its rugged soul.
Perth, Australia

Australia Day: In Honor of the Foundation, Mourning for Invasion

26/1 is a controversial date in Australia. While British settlers celebrate it with barbecues and lots of beer, Aborigines celebrate the fact that they haven't been completely wiped out.
Wycliffe Wells, Australia

Wycliffe Wells' Unsecret Files

Locals, UFO experts and visitors have been witnessing sightings around Wycliffe Wells for decades. Here, Roswell has never been an example and every new phenomenon is communicated to the world.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Safari
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
Sheets of Bahia, Eternal Diamonds, Brazil
Architecture & Design
Sheets of Bahia, Brazil

Lençóis da Bahia: not Even Diamonds Are Forever

In the XNUMXth century, Lençóis became the world's largest supplier of diamonds. But the gem trade did not last as expected. Today, the colonial architecture that he inherited is his most precious possession.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Adventure
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Ceremonies and Festivities
Apia, Western Samoa

Fia Fia – High Rotation Polynesian Folklore

From New Zealand to Easter Island and from here to Hawaii, there are many variations of Polynesian dances. Fia Fia's Samoan nights, in particular, are enlivened by one of the more fast-paced styles.
now from above ladder, sorcerer of new zealand, Christchurch, new zealand
Cities
Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand's Cursed Wizard

Despite his notoriety in the antipodes, Ian Channell, the New Zealand sorcerer, failed to predict or prevent several earthquakes that struck Christchurch. At the age of 88, after 23 years of contract with the city, he made very controversial statements and ended up fired.
Meal
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
Parra Sea
Culture
Mendoza, Argentina

Journey through Mendoza, the Great Argentine Winemaking Province

In the XNUMXth century, Spanish missionaries realized that the area was designed for the production of the “Blood of Christ”. Today, the province of Mendoza is at the center of the largest winemaking region in Latin America.
Sport
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
Miniature houses, Chã das Caldeiras, Fogo Volcano, Cape Verde
Ethnic
Chã das Caldeiras, Fogo Island Cape Verde

A "French" Clan at the Mercy of Fogo

In 1870, a Count born in Grenoble on his way to Brazilian exile, made a stopover in Cape Verde where native beauties tied him to the island of Fogo. Two of his children settled in the middle of the volcano's crater and continued to raise offspring there. Not even the destruction caused by the recent eruptions deters the prolific Montrond from the “county” they founded in Chã das Caldeiras.    
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

life outside

History
Castles and Fortresses

A Defending World: Castles and Fortresses that Resist

Under threat from enemies from the end of time, the leaders of villages and nations built castles and fortresses. All over the place, military monuments like these continue to resist.
Albreda, Gambia, Queue
Islands
Bar a Kunta Kinteh, Gâmbia

Journey to the Origins of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

One of the main commercial arteries of West Africa, in the middle of the XNUMXth century, the Gambia River was already navigated by Portuguese explorers. Until the XNUMXth century, much of the slavery perpetrated by the colonial powers of the Old World flowed along its waters and banks.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Winter White
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
Couple visiting Mikhaylovskoe, village where writer Alexander Pushkin had a home
Literature
Saint Petersburg e Mikhaylovkoe, Russia

The Writer Who Succumbed to His Own Plot

Alexander Pushkin is hailed by many as the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. But Pushkin also dictated an almost tragicomic epilogue to his prolific life.
Nature
São Nicolau, Cape Verde

Photography of Nha Terra São Nicolau

The voice of the late Cesária Verde crystallized the feeling of Cape Verdeans who were forced to leave their island. who visits São Nicolau or, wherever it may be, admires images that illustrate it well, understands why its people proudly and forever call it their land.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Camiguin, Philippines, Katungan mangrove.
Natural Parks
Camiguin, Philippines

An Island of Fire Surrended to Water

With more than twenty cones above 100 meters, the abrupt and lush, Camiguin has the highest concentration of volcanoes of any other of the 7641 islands in the Philippines or on the planet. But, in recent times, not even the fact that one of these volcanoes is active has disturbed the peace of its rural, fishing and, to the delight of outsiders, heavily bathed life.
Miyajima Island, Shinto and Buddhism, Japan, Gateway to a Holy Island
UNESCO World Heritage
Miyajima, Japan

Shintoism and Buddhism with the Tide

Visitors to the Tori of Itsukushima admire one of the three most revered scenery in Japan. On the island of Miyajima, Japanese religiosity blends with Nature and is renewed with the flow of the Seto Inland Sea.
female and cub, grizzly footsteps, katmai national park, alaska
Characters
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell spent summers on end with the bears of Katmai. Traveling through Alaska, we followed some of its trails, but unlike the species' crazy protector, we never went too far.
Swimming, Western Australia, Aussie Style, Sun rising in the eyes
Beaches
Busselton, Australia

2000 meters in Aussie Style

In 1853, Busselton was equipped with one of the longest pontoons in the world. World. When the structure collapsed, the residents decided to turn the problem around. Since 1996 they have been doing it every year. Swimming.
Easter Seurassari, Helsinki, Finland, Marita Nordman
Religion
Helsinki, Finland

The Pagan Passover of Seurasaari

In Helsinki, Holy Saturday is also celebrated in a Gentile way. Hundreds of families gather on an offshore island, around lit fires to chase away evil spirits, witches and trolls
Flam Railway composition below a waterfall, Norway.
On Rails
Nesbyen to Flam, Norway

Flam Railway: Sublime Norway from the First to the Last Station

By road and aboard the Flam Railway, on one of the steepest railway routes in the world, we reach Flam and the entrance to the Sognefjord, the largest, deepest and most revered of the Scandinavian fjords. From the starting point to the last station, this monumental Norway that we have unveiled is confirmed.
city ​​hall, capital, oslo, norway
Society
Oslo, Norway

A Overcapitalized Capital

One of Norway's problems has been deciding how to invest the billions of euros from its record-breaking sovereign wealth fund. But even immoderate resources don't save Oslo from its social inconsistencies.
Casario, uptown, Fianarantsoa, ​​Madagascar
Daily life
Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

The Malagasy City of Good Education

Fianarantsoa was founded in 1831 by Ranavalona Iª, a queen of the then predominant Merina ethnic group. Ranavalona Iª was seen by European contemporaries as isolationist, tyrant and cruel. The monarch's reputation aside, when we enter it, its old southern capital remains as the academic, intellectual and religious center of Madagascar.
Maria Jacarés, Pantanal Brazil
Wildlife
Miranda, Brazil

Maria dos Jacarés: the Pantanal shelters such Creatures

Eurides Fátima de Barros was born in the interior of the Miranda region. 38 years ago, he settled in a small business on the side of BR262 that crosses the Pantanal and gained an affinity with the alligators that lived on his doorstep. Disgusted that once upon a time the creatures were being slaughtered there, she began to take care of them. Now known as Maria dos Jacarés, she named each of the animals after a soccer player or coach. It also makes sure they recognize your calls.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.
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