Uluru

Uluru was formed about 550 million years ago. In the beginning, it was at the bottom of a large ocean and was first found in 1872 by an explorer named Ernest Giles. Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara (pronounced pit-jan-jah-jarra) Anangu -the aborigines of Australia. Uluru is also called Ayer’s rock. Ernest Giles named it after the South African prime minister- Sir Henry Ayers.

Uluru is an ancient sandstone monolith in Central Australia, famous for its gorgeous auburn hue, which seems to change with changing seasons and times of day. It is one of Australia's prime tourist attractions.

Uluru is filled with springs, waterholes, rock caves, and ancient paintings. Uluru’s climate is hot and dry for most of the year. Winters (May–July) are cool, with low temperatures at night, which frequently drop below freezing point. Daytime highs often exceed 1050F during the hottest month (December). There is almost no rain throughout the year and it rains only 300 mm annually with several droughts.

Despite the extreme climate, several plants and animals are found in Uluru. There are about 400 species of plants in Uluru, including Mulga trees, desert oak and desert poplars, several types of Eucalyptuses, shrubs, and dozens of wildflowers, including Foxtails and Myrtles. Uluru has 21 mammals, 178 species of birds, and 73 different types of reptiles including dingoes, kangaroos, parakeets, thorny devils and many more.

For the Anangu, Uluru is so much more than just an ancient rock, it's a living cultural landscape that holds many sacred sites and stories. The Anangu believe that this landscape was created by ancestral beings and that they are the direct descendants of those beings.

Uluru has been one of the most visited tourist destinations in Australia since the late 1930s. Uluru and Kata Tjuta, also known as the Olgas, are the two main features of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. It is set 450km away from Alice Springs in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

The sandstone at Uluru has a unique red color due to the presence of iron oxide. The iron present in Uluru slowly rusted and made it appear bright red in color. However, this isn't the only color Uluru has. In fact, Uluru’s color depends on the position of the sun in the sky, which makes Uluru appear to change its colors- from red (sunrise and sunset) to orange (afternoon) to purple (night) and back to red again. Sunrises and sunsets are the best times to see Ayers Rock.

The flakes are bits of rock left after water and oxygen have decayed minerals in the rock. The red is the rusting of iron found naturally in arkose, and the grey is the rock's original color. You can see Uluru's original grey inside many of its caves.

According to the Pitjantjatjara Anangu people, Uluru is thought to have been formed by their ancestors. Uluru’s caves and paintings were all made by the ancestors. Uluru and Kata-Juta are now owned by the Pitjantjatjara Anangu. Hiking around the base of the rock is a common activity. However, climbing up Uluru is now illegal, out of respect to the Pitjantjatjara Anangu people. Also, the climb up to the top of Uluru is extremely steep, slippery, and dangerous due to the presence of poisonous snakes and spiders. People have gotten stuck, lost, injured themselves, and even died in Uluru. In fact, 37 people were killed, and many got injured. Uluru is so famous that more than 2.85 million people visit it every year. The best time to go to Uluru is between May and September when the temperature is at 20°C-30°C.