No need to climb Uluru

by John
(Brisbane, Queensland, Australia)

I've been to Uluru twice now, and both times have been very powerful experiences, but I didn't feel the need to climb it.

Base of Uluru
I would have to say that being there exceeded my expectations - this might seem a bit cliched, but anyone sensitive in any way to the energy of a place will find that Uluru has a very powerful energy.

Our group had as a guide one of the traditional owners of Uluru who told us stories of his life, of the importance of the land, and why his people prefer people not to climb.

He travelled with us on the journey from Alice Springs, so by the time we arrived at Uluru we felt we knew quite a bit about its significance to the local people.

View towards Kantju, an important spiritual site at Uluru
Our group walked around the base of the rock and I know for most of us this was very powerful.

To me it is the height of ignorance and rudeness, and in fact a form of racism, for people to climb Uluru despite the wishes of its traditional owners, and I hope that access is restricted in the near future.

I don't know that it would make a huge difference to visitor numbers; are there any statistics on how many visitors actually do the climb?

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No need to climb Uluru

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How many people climb Uluru, and why.
by: Birgit

Thanks a lot for your input John! I can't but agree with everything you say.

I did some digging to see if there are new numbers regarding the percentage of visitors who climb Uluru.

The numbers have been steadily dropping sine 1990, and currently the Aboriginal owners are seriously considering a blanket ban.

I found an interesting paper, published in late November, 2007, in Geographical Research. It is called "Constructing the Climb: Visitor Decision-Making at Uluru" by Sarah James.

The paper suggests that nearly half of the 400,000 yearly visitors climb Uluru. I have to say, that does not match what I have seen on my own visits. It looked a lot less to me.

Some other interesting tidbits:

Europeans show the most respect for Aboriginal culture and are least likely to climb.

Australians are among the most likely to climb, generally out of a feeling that they own the rock as much as the Anangu do. (Which matches exactly the comments I received in some emails.)

The climb is heavily promoted in Japan and 80% of Japanese tourists do climb.

The main finding in the paper is that visitors are generally open to the wishes of the traditional owners and would forgo the climb, if only they were given enough information and advance notice.

Most people interviewed said they were not given enough information about the Anangu's wishes, and that it would have changed their decision if they had been informed earlier.

From the paper:
"Many tourists continue to climb as they are given the impression in pre-trip tourism information that it is desirable and acceptable. It is too late to affect their decision by the time they see the 'Please Do Not Climb' sign at the base of Uluru"

(Which matches what I suggested on my page about climbing Uluru.)

The paper also notes that tour operators are becoming more open. They feel the climb is less important to visitors than it used to be and do not expect long term damage to their business if the climb was closed. In other words, if nobody wants to climb it any more, the may close the climb. But probably not if it means tour operators will lose money.

To close the climb would have to be a decision by the park's board of management in consultation with the Federal Government. It's not a decision that the Anangu can make on their own, as many people assume.

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Submitted by: Birgit

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Thanks a lot for your input John! I can't but agree with everything you say. I did some digging to see if there are new numbers regarding the percentage of visitors who climb Uluru. The numbers have been steadily dropping sine 1990, and currently the Aboriginal owners are seriously considering a blanket ban. I found an interesting paper, published in late November, 2007, in <i>Geographical Research</i>. It is called "<i>Constructing the Climb: Visitor Decision-Making at Uluru</i>" by Sarah James. The paper suggests that nearly half of the 400,000 yearly visitors climb Uluru. I have to say, that does not match what I have seen on my own visits. It looked a lot less to me. Some other interesting tidbits: <ul><li>Europeans show the most respect for Aboriginal culture and are least likely to climb.</li> <li>Australians are among the most likely to climb, generally out of a feeling that they own the rock as much as the Anangu do. (Which matches exactly the comments I received in some emails.)</li> <li>The climb is heavily promoted in Japan and 80% of Japanese tourists do climb.</li></ul> The main finding in the paper is that visitors are generally open to the wishes of the traditional owners and would forgo the climb, if only they were given enough information and advance notice. Most people interviewed said they were not given enough information about the Anangu's wishes, and that it would have changed their decision if they had been informed earlier. From the paper: "Many tourists continue to climb as they are given the impression in pre-trip tourism information that it is desirable and acceptable. It is too late to affect their decision by the time they see the 'Please Do Not Climb' sign at the base of Uluru" (Which matches what I suggested on my page about <a href="http://www.outback-australia-travel-secrets.com/climbing-ayers-rock-uluru.html">climbing Uluru</a>.) The paper also notes that tour operators are becoming more open. They feel the climb is less important to visitors than it used to be and do not expect long term damage to their business if the climb was closed. In other words, if nobody wants to climb it any more, the may close the climb. But probably not if it means tour operators will lose money. To close the climb would have to be a decision by the park's board of management in consultation with the Federal Government. It's not a decision that the Anangu can make on their own, as many people assume.

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