With ancient mountain ranges, rich Indigenous culture and world famous rock art, the Red Centre’s timeless rugged multicolour landscapes offer experiences like nowhere else on earth. It is a land of arid beauty, endless plains and stunning natural monuments including the MacDonnell Ranges, Watarrka (Kings Canyon) and the World Heritage-listed Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The stunning landscapes are full of rare plants and animals that have adapted for survival in the arid environment. Indigenous Australians see themselves as part of the land and for tens of thousands of years they have lived in a sustainable way, surviving on the resources of the land while caring fortheir country and maintaining a balance with nature.

AN ANCIENT LANDSCAPE - MONOLITHS, MOUNTAINS, SAND DUNES AND DESERT PLAINS

As you travel through the Red Centre, you will be amazed by thetransformation ofthe landscape. Fromthe ancient rocky and rugged MacDonnell Ranges to the vivid red sandstone ofthe James Ranges, and on to the awe-inspiring rock formations of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. As the soils change, sand dune and desert oak country gives way to mulga and spinifex. Species of animals and birds also change with the vegetation. The changes are beautiful and dramatic.

The extraordinary landforms of Uluru and Kata Tjuta rise dramatically hundreds of metres above the sandy desert plain and are the visible tips of huge rock slabs that extend far beneath the ground. Geologists believe that 500 million years ago, these huge rocks were part ofthe sea floor. Over time, the earth buckled, mountain ranges were uplifted, tilted and eroded, and the sea evaporated leaving these fantastic rock formations. The traditional owners, Anangu,

see Uluru and Kata Tjuta as the work of their creation ancestors, who journeyed across the land creatingthe landscapes, plants and animals we see today.

At Watarrka (Kings Canyon) sheer sandstone walls carved out by the elements more than 350 million years ago, rise up over 100 metres all around you. Here the ancestors created deep gorges, and ancient cycad ferns, as old as the dinosaurs.

A UNIQUE NATURAL WORLD

The spectacular geology and climate ofthe Red Centre has given rise to a surprising range of ecosystems, plants and animals, including the southern marsupial mole, the legless lizard, the black footed rock wallaby and the great desert skink. Significant efforts are being made to recover

numbers of mala or rufous hare wallaby, an important creation ancestor, now extinct in the wild.Regeneration paddocks have been established by Indigenous rangers and wildlife scientists, at Ulupu, Watarrka and Alice Springs Desert Park, to build up numbers.

A secret life

The tiny 10 centimetre long southern marsupial mole (Itjari-itjari) lives a reclusive, solitary life below the spiky spinifex and burning sands of central Australia. So little is known about these secretive blind creatures, it is unclear how males find females for reproduction.

Scientists are now working with Anangu traditional owners to gather more information about the mole. Anangu are teaching western scientists their tracking skills and giving them an insight into their traditional ecological knowledge to help study the species.

Master of the underground

Anangu call the great desert skinkTjakura. These large burrowing lizards grow up to 44 centimetres long and weigh up to 350 grams. They look similar to a blue-tongued lizard - but are slightly larger with pink skin and a yellow underbelly. These skinks construct large burrows over one metre deep and up to five metres wide, with up to 10 different entrances.