Uluru, Australia's most iconic mountain – formerly known as Ayres Rock – will be subject to a climbing ban from October of this year. As a result, thousands of tourists have been climbing it recently, anxious to get to the top ahead of the ban.
The ban has been introduced in respect to the wishes of the local Anangu people, who see the mountain as sacred. Apparently the route taken by most visitors to climb the mountain is the same spiritually-significant route that was taken by the ancestral Mala men.
While intending no disrespect to the local indigenous people, and having no personal desire to climb Uluru myself, I do not think this ban should have been imposed.
I don't believe that ANY mountain or area of land should be designated as off-limits to anyone. We were all born on this earth, and in my opinion, no one person or group should be able to say who should be allowed to go where.
I can understand why the Anangu people feel this way, and if I did want to climb Uluru, I would try to pay as much respect as possible to their traditions and culture. I can see why they feel so strongly about this issue. The aboriginal people of Australia have been treated very badly in the past. There was a lot of arrogance and chauvinism associated with colonialism. But a ban of this kind cannot make up for the wrongs that happened in the past.
I think there are other ways that sacred areas can be respected, such as limiting numbers of visitors per day if there are too many, encouraging visitors to participate in litter removal and/or repair work; encouraging visitors to learn about the traditions of the local people.
For me, the bottom line is that we were all born on this earth, and no one person or group should have control over goes where.
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