Tourists peeing (and more) on Uluru: can it get any worse?
 

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-...0930-gbp6.html

It's bad enough that a third of the 350,000 people who viist Uluru each year ignore the request not to climb the rock out of respect for the indigenous people.

That many of them use it as a toilet, and in the process have probably extinguished a species, is disgusting.

I hope that the behaviour of these pigs will at last result in a ban being placed on climbing the rock, with penalties for non-observance.

Neil, I think that the chain at the climb should be shortened upwards from the base by 40 metres or so, and that would discourage many people from climbing. Better still, demolish the chain altogether.
I must make a confession here - when I visited Ularu 15 years ago, I did climb the rock. I'm not proud of that, and it's not a significant achievement.
Yep, close the climb.

Neil, I agree that the climb shows a lack of respect and should not occur but at least some climbers are unaware of the fact, but peeing on it is beyond explanation!

In fairness, Peter, I think general awareness 15 years ago wasn't what it is now.

Re a ban, I think it was George Bernard Shaw who responded to someone's view that "you can't legislate people to be good" with the observation that so far nothing else had worked.

If anyone has a problem with being fined they could be asked to consider how the locals would react if they urinated in Notre Dame or against the feet of the Great Buddha at Leshan.

Is there a fee charged to climb the Rock? If not, there should be, and if there is, it's not high enough. It should be raised to a prohibitive level, and any funds collected should go to the aboriginal people for schools, medical care, whatever they need.

AND they need to hand out poop/pee bags like they do for boat campers on Jackson Lake in the Grand Teton National Park, and make people carry their own waste out with them!

Neil, for a change I must disagree with you. No point in asking, "... how the locals would react if they urinated in Notre Dame or against the feet of the Great Buddha at Leshan," as most of the problems come from Aussies and we hold nothing sacred!

Thankfully most foreign tourists comply with the request not to climb. Many of those who did climb, say they were unaware of the locals' feelings before climbing.

"Requests" not to do things never work. Nothing is going to change the behaviour of the type of person who does this sort of thing, so just close the rock to climbers. Anyone found urinating in such a place should have their own house declared as a public toilet - now that could change someones behaviour!

Saltuarius, I don't know or care which national group is the worst offender - if it's Australians, shame on them, because they should have less excuse for such revolting behaviour.

Sorry, but the argument that "we don't hold anythng sacred" strikes me as a bit of a cop-out, and plain wrong. What about Anzac Day? Let's all piss on the War Memorial and do a bit of streaking at the Dawn Service and see what happens.

The problem is easily solved. Just ban climbing. And as KimbyMT suggests, make the penalties for non-observance real wallet gougers.

Neil, I accept your advice offered on another thread.
Thanks.

"The problem is easily solved. Just ban climbing. And as KimbyMT suggests, make the penalties for non-observance real wallet gougers."

Actually, I suggested punative FEES, rather than penalties.

It's hypocritical for the aboriginals to ask people not to climb but then to allow them to.

If they are going to allow it, they should benefit from it, and charge an adequate fee to do some good for their people, as well as to discourage those who have less money than desire to climb.

But maybe its a cultural thing that they cannot say "no" to guests?

Kimby, the local Aboriginal people don't have the authority to either allow or disallow the practice. I'm open to correction here, but I think such an edict would have to come from the government of the Northern Territory.

I understand that the Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, supports a ban. (In a previous life Peter was the front man for the band Midnight Oil, well-known for championing indigenous rights.)

I take your point about fees vs. fines, but there's no guarantee that the fees would go to the local indigenous people. And arguably money, as such, isn't the main problem - it's finding the best way to spend it. You can build all the schools you like, for example, but you have to find a way to induce parents to send their kids.

Thanks, Neil, for setting me straight. Hopefully the powers-that-be will see fit to respect their own natives' request and restrict climbing the Rock completely. I don't feel the need to climb it, and besides respecting the Aboriginals' wihses, I'd rather look at it - and photograph it - without tourists trudging up it.

(Of course, some quaintly clad or nearly-naked natives might add to the photo op!)

Kimby, I have to confess that I've never been there myself, but my guess is that the "native's" quaint cladding would mostly consist of checked shirts, jeans and elastic-sided boots. In Australia the place for nearly-naked (in some places completely naked) natives is the beach.

Doesn't the Australian national park service (or an equivalent organization) maintain a chain to aid climbing? They did so when I climbed in 1997.

Yep - there is a chain that goes about a third of the way up the rock. Without the chain, there would be even more fatal accidents. I believe that about 30 people have died on the rock - heart attacks, and occasional falls.

Some get blown off the rock by high winds, I hear...

And while we were there Nov. 4 and 5, the climb was closed most of the time due to anticipated wind gusts over 25 knots per hour. There was a list of reasons the climb might be closed and I think there were twelve items on the list. Besides wind, the climb could be closed because of recent rain, 20% threat of rain, 5% chance of thunderstorms, forecasted temps over 36 degrees, rescue operations in progress, closures for aboriginal ceremonial events, and other reasons.

I have the feeling that the windows of opportunity to climb the rock are getting smaller and smaller, and fewer and farther between. And that's fine with me. In my photos you can actually see the faint line etched into the rock from the many feet that have made the climb...