Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory

There is no mistaking Kata-Tjuta National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. It is distinctively home to the iconic rock monolith that is Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock.

Located in the Red Centre of Australia, the park draws innumerable visitors yearly: to gasp at the imposing presence and changing colors of Uluru, and to explore and take camel treks through Kata Tjuta.

The park has been inscribed by the United Nations as a World Heritage site, initially for its outstanding universal natural values, and then for its outstanding universal cultural values.

Rising from the plains

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has an area of 132,566 hectares close to Australia's geographical centre in the traditional lands of the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal people, known locally as Anangu.

What makes the huge rock formations of Uluru and Kata Tjuta truly remarkable is the fact that they rise from relatively flat sand plains.

Sandstone monolith and domes

Uluru is a huge, rounded, red sandstone monolith 9.4 kilometres in circumference rising to a height of over 340 metres above the plain. Rock art in the caves around its base are further evidence of the enduring cultural traditions of Anangu.

About 32 kilometres to the west of Uluru lie the 36 steep-sided domes of Kata Tjuta. The domes cover an area of 3 500 hectares with Mount Olga, the highest feature, rising to a height of 500 metres. This area is sacred under Anangu men's law and, as such, detailed knowledge of it is restricted.

Traditional owners

Title to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was handed back to the traditional owners in 1985 and is held by the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Aboriginal Land Trust. Leased back to the director of National Parks and Wildlife, the park is jointly managed under direction of a board of management which includes a majority of Anangu traditional owners.

On their website, the Anangu, as traditional owners of Uluru-Kata Tjuta Natonal Park, have declared they are "direct descendants of the beings who created our lands during the Tjukurpa (Creation Time). We have always been here. It is our duty to look after the land, which includes passing on its history to our children and grandchildren. We call ourselves Anangu, and would like you to use that term for us."

Tourist town

For visitors to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, the tourist town of Yulara lies just north of Uluru and provides almost all the amenities, including food and lodging, that visitors need