Uluru, one the key tourists destinations in Australia, has a new viewing platform which was unveiled early this month by Aboriginal elders hoping to discourage tourists from climbing the sacred rock. Opened at a dawn ceremony, the $21 million viewing platform Talingru Nyakunytjaku, which in the local Aboriginal Pitjantjatjara language means “place to look from the sand dune,” offers uninterrupted views of mulga woodland, large desert oaks, the southeastern face of Uluru, and the 36 head-shaped domes of Kata Tjuta.

Earlier this year, citing cultural, environmental and safety concerns the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park called for an end to people climbing the 1,100-feet-high monolith in the central Australian Desert. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has come out in support of the climb but the official decision on a proposed climbing ban of Uluru is still under consultation.

To learn more about the viewing platform read the Sydney Morning Herald article. For more information about Uluru please visit our sacred site report.