Today we wanted to start the day by taking the Mala walk – the free one the Anangu people want you to take. Dee was slow to get up and we were almost late, which was quite stressful for me as the driver. But we made it just in time. I just hope I won’t get hidden speed camera tickets.
The first thing we saw was sad – from the same place as the Mala walk starts the climbing path. There are signs everywhere asking people to respect the Anangu culture and not climb. They still climb.
But the tour was a great contrast – our white guide was a proper outback Aussie type who really loves the indigenous cultures and is really invested in his job. He did an excellent job of explaining the meaning of the places we saw and telling the Mala tjukurpa. This is a story of the ritual which turns boys into men, and it begins with the Mala ancestors arriving to Uluru to perform the rite. They climb the Rock to install the ritual pole, this marking the beginning from which point no interruptions are allowed. Yet some ancestors from another tribe do interrupt them, asking them to join their own ritual. But the Mala ritual now cannot be interrupted, so they tell the others to get lost. They get annoyed and summon a great demon dog who sneaks up on the Mala people disguised as trees, rocks or bushes. It attacks and chases them far into South Australia, and worse – makes the women run through the area for the boys-to-be-men, which, naturally, cannot be even as much as seen by a woman. The ritual is spoiled, they run, but in the end defeat the demon and get back on the other tribe.
Uluru bears marks of this story – we saw the place where the boys were staying (and where generations of Anangu boys turned to men), where the women were, where the demon left marks in the wall chasing them, where the ritual pole fell from its place… The tjukurpa really is alive in Uluru. Incidentally, this is also why you shouldn’t climb it – climbing is done only for the purpose of the Ritual.
The walk was wonderfully slow, allowing us to tune in to the stories, appreciate the land, imagine it all. It ended at a beautiful spot where under vertical walls a permanent waterhole pleasantly chilled the air.
From there we took the full walk around Uluru. Some four hours or 12km – quite like Arthur’s Seat. Except it looks completely different. And is in the desert. And it’s +30 and no clouds. But other than that, pretty similar.
The views of the Rock change all the time as new parts emerge and the sun moves. New shadows play, different plants appear – and each part had its own tjukurpa to tell. Some are helpfully offered by story plates. There is a drinking water point half way through and occasionally there are some trees which provide some shade. A couple more water holes, some birds… It is all quite magical.
And I think I decided what to do about the photo. I’ll post one, as a memory, from a respectful distance. If you want to see what it looks like, Google it. If you want to know what it is like, you just have to come here.
After the walk we drove to Kata Tjuta, another rock formation just 45km away. The name means ‘many heads’, and it does look like many heads sticking from the ground. While Uluru is a single rock, the largest rock on earth’s surface, Kata Tjuta is a collection of separate rocks, and of a different type. It’s much larger and more varied in shape, but also less contained, less of a single thing and thus less impressive, if that makes sense. It’s like how a small but stylistically consistent and perfectly proportioned building can be much more impressive than a massive one.
Anyway, it was quite late and we only took a short walk down the Valley of the Winds. It lived up to its windy name, and offered some beautiful views. We didn’t stay long as we wanted to see the whole thing from the sunset observation spot, and needed to be out of the national park soon after dark. The sunset view was quite amazing. Though, as many things here, somewhat spoiled by humans. I really don’t understand how someone can be in the presence of something like this and not stop rattling about whatever unimportant crap they just have to tell their pals about, now and as loud as possible.
We got back to the hostel after dark – darkness really falls quick on the desert! I was enjoying the privileges of the driver, sipping beer while the others got on a bbq mission. The hostel sells fresh meat which you can prepare on provided barbecues – neat concept. Except that the execution was poor, as there wasn’t really much meat in the packs they offered and what was there was quite stringy and boring. But that couldn’t possibly spoil the awesomeness of the day. After food I felt like I needed some more time for myself – after all, this was a long day full of stories and magic. I left the others to wander about a bit and listen to music, and joined later for sleeps.
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