Ayers rock is an ancient name. Red mountain Uluru. Location on the map

The eighth wonder of the world, Red Mountain, sacred place All these words are about amazing grief located in Australia. Uluru or Ayers Rock is one of the recognizable symbols of the Green Continent. Uluru rock, resembling a huge resting elephant, is incredibly beautiful, and is rightfully considered one of the most remarkable natural wonders of our planet.

Chameleon Rock Ayers Rock

The fantastic red mountain is located 450 km from the Australian city of Alice Springs. Its height is 838 m, and its length is 3.6 km. This red sandstone is covered with cracks everywhere. Some of them reach a depth of 2m. It is the properties of sandstone that allow the rock to flow throughout the day. At dawn, the mountain appears dark purple, during the day it acquires a golden hue, and in the late afternoon it becomes completely dark.

Riddles of the ancient mountain

Millions of years ago, in the center of Australia, there was a mountain range that looked like an island. The rocks gradually collapsed, settled and formed a giant rock. It is interesting that Uluru lies in the middle, but hurricanes constantly rush around it, which bring down on the surroundings heavy rains. So deep cracks appear on the surface of the mountain. The alternation of heat and heavy rains causes the sandstone to shrink and then expand. This process does not stop.

sacred mountain Uluru

Scientists believe that amazing mountain is over 6 million years old! The base of the rock has evidence that tells about the life of ancient people. In found cave drawings, depicting ancient deities: the mistress of Mount Kuniya, the Brown Snake Lira, the patron of mammals, the Hare Kangaroo.

Place of pilgrimage for tourists

After the construction in the 1950s of the motorway leading to amazing rock, a real pilgrimage began for those wishing to see the eighth wonder of the world. But the terrain of Uluru's surface is so difficult, cracks and slippery places after rains, plus high temperatures, make it difficult to climb the mountain. In the first 15 years, only 22 people climbed up. The number is currently in the thousands.

Since 1985, Aires Rock has been officially leased by the Anangu tribe as national park. Aborigines are interested in the development of tourism associated with the chameleon rock. They equipped a path along which you can climb up. There is a certain place where you can climb the rock. These precautions prevent accidents that have happened before. The scorching sun and bumps pose a danger to travelers. It is better to follow the advice of the conductors.

UNESCO recognized the sacred rock of Uluru as the Eighth Wonder of the World and added it to the List World Heritage. It is difficult to imagine Australia without the famous Red Mountain, which can often be seen on the covers of guidebooks and photo albums about the most interesting places planets.

Mount Uluru in Australia photo

Ayers Rock is the largest and oldest monolith rock in the world. This the most unique place- one of the main attractions of Australia. Ayers Rock is an orange-brown, oval-shaped rock that formed approximately 680 million years ago. Its oval “hump”, 2.5 kilometers long and one and a half kilometers wide, rises as much as 348 meters above the surrounding plain! This is what is left of the huge mountain range Peterman. Mount Ayers Rock is part of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Australia.

There was a lot of controversy about the origin of the Peterman mountain range. The mystery of the origin of the big mountain range in the middle of an almost endless, flat as a table, desert caused a lot of incredible assumptions. For example, the fact that it is a giant iron meteorite that fell thousands of years ago on the Australian plain. A little later, geologists explained the appearance of Ayers Rock much more simply, which, of course, did not make it less impressive and interesting, although after that it became much less mysterious.

According to modern scientists, Ayers Rock is a typical product of erosion - an endless process of destruction by natural forces of the heights of the relief and the transformation of rough terrain into an ordinary plain. At the same time, geologists call the surviving rock massifs remnants. You can meet them in Arabia, in American Valley Monuments in the Sahara. A typical remnant is also sugar loaf in Brazilian Rio de Janeiro. The same is australian mountain Ayers Rock, with the only difference being that it dwarfs any other both by its enormous size and by the impression of complete unreality that arises at the sight of a huge rock reigning over a plain that stretches around it for hundreds of kilometers.

It is thanks to the external beauty and mystery that Ayers Rock is popular among filmmakers. Therefore, this place is quite famous in the world of show business. Just on the hochu website, you can be aware of all the latest significant events and show business news.

As for Ayers Rock itself, its circumference is about nine kilometers, and to get to its top, you will have to overcome an inclined path one and a half kilometers long. This risky climb is not for everyone to overcome, although in our time in the most dangerous places metal railings were installed.

From the top of Ayers Rock, a wonderful view of the vast desert, stretching in all directions and almost devoid of any vegetation, opens up a wonderful view. Only at the foot of the cliff do rare groves of stunted acacias and eucalyptus trees turn green in places.

The Australian Aborigines call this rock Uluru and have considered it sacred for thousands of years. This name means absolutely nothing and is often used by the natives simply as a name. Numerous stories and legends are associated with the name Uluru. The natives believe that the huge dents on the rock are the traces left by the huge monstrous dog Kura-Punya, sneaking up to the hunters' camps in order to devour all of them without a trace. And only the help of man's everlasting friend - a cheerful kookaburra bird, which warned people with its cry about the approach of a terrible beast and saved their lives.

In any light, Ayers Rock looks very unusual, and during sunrise or sunset, you always have to remind yourself that this is real. natural phenomenon and not a dream. The rocky monolith is famous for being able to change its color like a chameleon during the day, from pink and fiery red to purple, brown and blue.

Natural forces and time have worked a lot on the surface of the rock, leaving scars and notches on it, and even large recesses of a bizarre shape. When it rains, rare for this area, silvery streams and streams of water run down the grooves and cracks.

Tourists began to visit Mount Ice Rock only in the middle of the 20th century, after the completion of the construction of the highway passing through this area. Neither the inaccessibility nor the remoteness of this corner of Australia, located in the very center of the mainland, does not prevent the flow of tourists from growing every year who want to see this with their own eyes. unique rock. People on airplanes and cars get here to admire the beauty of the extraordinary landscape, which you will not find equal anywhere in the world!

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This mysterious wonder of nature is located almost in the center of the Australian continent and attracts about half a million tourists a year, despite the heat and hordes of annoying insects.

The formation of the mountain occurred approximately 680 million years ago. In fact, this is one huge stone with a length of 3.6 km and a width of 3 km, which from a bird's eye view looks like a baby elephant lying on its side. Until now, there are disputes regarding the nature of the mountain. Some believe that this is a monolith, while others believe that Uluru is connected underground to another mountain located 25 km away. This mountain is called Olga, in honor of Olga, the daughter of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I. The natives call the mountain Kata-Tyuta.

Local residents settled at the foot of the mountain 10 thousand years ago. But for the first time this miracle of nature became known relatively recently. Ernest Giles, while on the shores of Lake Amadius in 1872, saw the mountain. But the ascent happened only a year later. This was done by William Goss, and it was he who gave the name to the mountain, by which it is still known today - Ayers Rock.

halo of mystery

Local tribes are convinced that Uluru is a door that connects the world of spirits with the world of people. Shamans have been performing their rituals here for centuries. And even now locals consider the mountain a relic. But some tribes consider Uluru a helper and ask her for various benefits. Others consider the rock to be the seat of evil spirits.

There is another belief that the rock is actually hollow inside. And in the very heart of the mountain is the "source of sacred energy."

But be that as it may, the mountain really makes an impression. mystical place. Australian Robin Davidson wrote in her book that she had never before felt the extraordinary power that comes from the mountain.

By the way, the natives believe that if you take a piece of the mountain, you will be damned. And many tourists confirm this. They say that after they took the pebble as a souvenir, misfortunes began to happen in their lives. And now, in post offices a lot of parcels with stones accumulated, which arrived from different countries.

tourist attraction

Mount Uluru was opened to tourists only in the middle of the last century. Aboriginal people do not interfere with the visit. Because this is a good article for making money. But they are against tourists climbing the mountain. Officially, officials have not issued a ban on Uluru, but many tourists respect the beliefs of the tribes and enjoy the view from the ground.

In addition, at the foot of the mountain there are places where you can not take photos. This is also related to the beliefs of the natives. These places are marked with signs.

The nearest town where tourists can stay is called Yulara, and it is located 18 km from the mountain. To get the right to visit the mountain, you need to buy a ticket. For AU$25 you get a 72 hour pass to Uluru.

Ayers Rock is located in the heart of the Australian continent in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. In the middle of the desert, an orange-brown mountain rises, resembling a fireball that seems to have fallen onto the plain from the sky. Scientists have concluded that Ayers Rock formed about 680 million years ago. For a long time it was part of the Peterman mountain range, which has already been practically destroyed by natural forces.

Ayers Rock is 348 meters high, 2.4 km long and 1.6 km wide.

For a long time, people made legends about the origin of the unusual mountain monolith. Today, scientists have concluded that it is a product of erosion. They attribute it to the remains of rock masses. The difference between Ayers Rock and other remnants is its impressive size. The feeling of unreality arises in anyone who is lucky enough to see this legendary rock. Particularly striking is the amazing property of Ayers Rock to change its color during the day. He, like a chameleon, can be pink, fiery red, brown, blue and purple.

The road spreads along the endless and lifeless plain. Behind one and a half thousand kilometers of the road to the heart of the Australian deserts - the town of Alice Springs, and from it - another four hundred kilometers to the south-west, to the outskirts of the most impregnable Gibson desert in Australia.

Behind him were the low Flinders Ridge, the shores of Gardner and Eyre lakes bordered by a white strip of salt, and the sandy ridges of the Simpson Desert stretching towards the horizon, in places covered with thickets of thorny bushes - scrub.

But the main thing that remains in the memory of the last two days car travel- this is a monotonous, absolutely flat flatness of the surrounding landscape: reddish-brown sands with rare bushes of thorny grass - spinifex.

The monotony of the road is broken only by occasional bridges over dry riverbeds—screams filled with water for a day or two only once every few years, when the wet season is particularly heavy with rain.

Against this background, a gigantic chocolate-brown rock suddenly appears on the horizon, which becomes more and more grandiose as it approaches it, all the more miraculous. Ayers Rock (this is the name of this unique stone hill) is probably the largest rock monolith in the world.

Its oval hump, 2.4 kilometers long and 1.6 kilometers wide, rises 350 meters above the surrounding plain!

There was a lot of controversy about its origin at the time. The mystery of the emergence of a huge mountain range in the middle of an endless, flat, like a desert desert gave rise to a lot of the most incredible assumptions, such as the fact that this is a giant iron meteorite that fell on the plain thousands of years ago.

But later geologists explained the appearance of Ayers Rock in a much more prosaic way, which, of course, did not make it less impressive, although, perhaps, it became less mysterious. According to modern science, Ayers Rock is a typical product of erosion - the never-ending process of natural forces destroying high relief and turning rugged terrain into a plain.

At the same time, more durable rock masses that survived are called remnants by scientists. They can be found in the Sahara on the Tibesti plateau in our Northern Urals, in Arabia and in the US state of Georgia in the famous Monument Valley. A typical remnant is and widely famous mountain Sugarloaf in Rio de Janeiro.

However, Ayers Rock undoubtedly overshadows any of them both with its size and the impression of absolute unreality that arises at the sight of a huge rock reigning over a plain that stretches for hundreds of kilometers around.

The first European to see Ayers Rock was the Australian explorer Ernest Giles, who then crossed the Gibson Desert from north to south in 1872. However, the local Aboriginal tribes by that time had known this rock for many centuries.

They called it Uluru ("The place where there is a shadow") and annually gathered near it for ritual festivities.

Some tribes believed that the rock fell from the sky in ancient times, others attributed its appearance to the giants who created it even before the arrival of people in this country, and still others believed that Uluru was the abode of the Wanambi Rainbow Serpent, the supreme judge over all living on Earth.

It was at the behest of Vanambi that his servants created humans and populated the desert with them. The children of Uluru multiplied and laid the foundation for all the aboriginal tribes, and every year they came to sacred mountain to glorify the best hunters and gain courage for new feats.

Time and natural forces have worked hard on the surface of the rock, leaving notches and scars on it, and even large recesses of the most bizarre shape. Giant, animal-like footprints, dents on a strong stone gave rise to many legends and beliefs among superstitious indigenous Australians.

Traces on the rock, according to the natives, were left by the monstrous huge dog Kura-Punya, sneaking towards the hunters' camp in order to devour them all without a trace. Only the help of the everlasting friend of people - a cheerful kookaburra bird, which with its cry warned people about the approach of a terrible beast, saved their lives.

Or the gull bird, and now one of the favorite birds in Australia. Her cheerful cry, similar to human laughter, begins the morning broadcasts of Australian radio.

In the caves at the foot of the cliff, many Aboriginal ritual drawings have been preserved, and without exaggeration it can be called the main center of the primitive culture of the indigenous people of Australia.

The dimensions of the caves are impressive: the largest of them reach eight hundred meters in length and thirty meters in height.

Three lakes formed in them, filled during the rainy season with water seeping through the cracks of the rock.

In the hot summer, when all the springs in the area dried up, the natives found here shelter from the hot rays of the sun and life-giving moisture.

But some lakes and caves were considered forbidden and protected from ancient times by sacred taboos. So, all the locals believed that Lake Mutijula ​​would bring inevitable death to any daredevil who dared to swim in its waters.

After all, it was here that the Rainbow Serpent Vanambi himself chose as his place of residence and, so as not to be disturbed, poisoned the lake with the magical poison of Aran-Gulta, from which there is no escape.

Other caves already by their name (like "The Grotto of the Cut Throat") scared away the curious. Involuntary trembling caused people and repeated booming echo in the Cave of Laughter.

And dark as night, Putta Grotto was inhabited, as the legend said, by the spirits of dead children, waiting for the moment when they could move into a new, just born body of a child.

Along the steep slope of the mountain, a narrow path leads to its summit. Not everyone can overcome a risky climb, although metal railings have now been installed in the most dangerous places.

To the purely climbing difficulties, there is also the need to carry a supply of water in a capacious flask - otherwise the climber will face death from dehydration or sunstroke.

From the height of Ayers Rock, a panorama of a vast desert, almost devoid of vegetation, opens up. Only at the foot of the cliff do rare groves of stunted eucalyptus and acacia-mulga grow green.

A few kangaroos and emus nibbling at spinifex's thorny shoots as they move leisurely across the red, heat-cracked plain.

In the distance, the bizarre massif of Mount Olga is blue through the air haze. Before him in a straight line 24 kilometers. Rare here, but heavy downpours carved deep furrows-gorges in it, breaking the massif into thirty rounded remnants.

The aborigines gave Mount Olga the apt name Katajuta ("Mountain with many heads"). WITH opposite side the silhouette of Mount Connor, located twice as far, is barely visible.

Unlike Mount Olga and Ayers Rock, it has a flat top. Covered with gray-green grass, this peak, when viewed from an airplane, contrasts sharply with its neighbors.

Now the Ayers Rock area has been declared a National Park, and the flow of tourists who want to see the unique rock is growing every year.

Despite the remoteness and inaccessibility of this corner of Australia, located in the very center of the continent, people on cars and planes get here to admire the beauty of the extraordinary landscape, which cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

Of course, in the mountains and deserts of Australia and along its coast there are many beautiful and amazing places. These are the Great Barrier Reef with its fabulous inhabitants, and the picturesque Blue Mountains, in the depths of which the two hundred-kilometer system of Jenolan caves is hidden, and the protected Kangaroo Island and Shark Bay, and cool coniferous groves and waterfalls of Tasmania, and ghost lakes Western Australia disappearing every year, only to reappear in a different place…

Tourists coming to a distant continent from around the world are enchanted by underwater coral multicolor barrier reef or the majesty of the cave halls of Genolam, where the grotto of the Devil's Carriage Shed reaches a height of one hundred meters!

And yet, having enjoyed the spectacle of these beauties, talking with friendly kangaroos and koalas in national parks coast, an inquisitive traveler will certainly insert a new film into the camera and set off along the dusty highway that runs along the border big desert Victoria and the Simpson Desert.

His path will not be easy and not close. The Main Miracle of Australia, hidden in the depths of the Great Deserts, is not soon revealed to man.