9th June 2012
From sheer excitement I woke in the Desert Rose Inn in Alice Springs well before my alarm went off at 5.15am. The temperature was zero degrees. With hands that were clumsy with cold I organised myself to be downstairs before 6am (choosing to wait for the bus inside the door rather than out on the chilly footpath.)
This is the route we were going to take:
The bus, when it arrived, was high, chunky and rugged looking. Out leapt our guide Jason and hostie Megan, looking very friendly, young and fit. I was hoping I had chosen the right kind of tour. For the next half hour or so we tootled around Alice Springs, gathering tour members from various hotels and hostels. In fact there was a brisk trade of tour buses doing a similar pre-dawn run – as Uluru is about 450 kilometres from Alice Springs, they have to make an early start.
There were 13 in our group, ranging in age from 20s to 70s, so I felt quite relieved that I wouldn’t be left behind running up hills or leaping over rocks. Our nationalities included English, Chinese/English, French, Australian and two Swiss couples from Zurich who hadn’t previously met. They were a great group of people to travel with.
Our first stop was at the Stuart’s Well Outback Camel Farm, about 90 km south of Alice Springs.
Here’s our chunky bus at Stuart’s Well. Can you see the camels?
Australia has the largest population of feral camels and the only herd of wild dromedary (one-humped) camels in the world.
As camels were ideally suited to the hot, dry climate of Australia's interior, they were imported in the 19th century and remained the principal means of outback transport until railways and roads were established. When this occurred, camel owners were ordered to shoot their camels, but, having become very attached to their animals, many instead released them into the wild so that now there are an estimated one million feral camels roaming the outback.
Because of their soft-padded feet, camels cause less erosion than cattle or sheep, but these enormous numbers of camels are becoming a problem because they:
Small numbers of feral camels are rounded up and exported live to the Middle East, where the flesh of disease-free wild camels is prized as a delicacy. Because their breed is so pure, they are also used as breeding stock for Arab camel racing stables.
However, the current export trade is not sufficient to control numbers, so last year, 5,000 were rounded up and shot.
Of course, I had to ride a camel.
“Lean back!”
This is why!
Safely down.
This picture of camels reminded me (a bit) of Elioth Gruner’s “Spring Frost” (below).
“Spring Frost” by Elioth Gruner
Image from http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/
Galahs
Dinky the singing dingo, a celebrity at Stuart’s Well.
Dingoes can’t bark – they can only howl. Very unnerving, when you hear wild dingoes howling in the middle of the night, just outside your tent, as we did a couple of days later.
From sheer excitement I woke in the Desert Rose Inn in Alice Springs well before my alarm went off at 5.15am. The temperature was zero degrees. With hands that were clumsy with cold I organised myself to be downstairs before 6am (choosing to wait for the bus inside the door rather than out on the chilly footpath.)
This is the route we were going to take:
The bus, when it arrived, was high, chunky and rugged looking. Out leapt our guide Jason and hostie Megan, looking very friendly, young and fit. I was hoping I had chosen the right kind of tour. For the next half hour or so we tootled around Alice Springs, gathering tour members from various hotels and hostels. In fact there was a brisk trade of tour buses doing a similar pre-dawn run – as Uluru is about 450 kilometres from Alice Springs, they have to make an early start.
There were 13 in our group, ranging in age from 20s to 70s, so I felt quite relieved that I wouldn’t be left behind running up hills or leaping over rocks. Our nationalities included English, Chinese/English, French, Australian and two Swiss couples from Zurich who hadn’t previously met. They were a great group of people to travel with.
Our first stop was at the Stuart’s Well Outback Camel Farm, about 90 km south of Alice Springs.
Here’s our chunky bus at Stuart’s Well. Can you see the camels?
Australia has the largest population of feral camels and the only herd of wild dromedary (one-humped) camels in the world.
As camels were ideally suited to the hot, dry climate of Australia's interior, they were imported in the 19th century and remained the principal means of outback transport until railways and roads were established. When this occurred, camel owners were ordered to shoot their camels, but, having become very attached to their animals, many instead released them into the wild so that now there are an estimated one million feral camels roaming the outback.
Because of their soft-padded feet, camels cause less erosion than cattle or sheep, but these enormous numbers of camels are becoming a problem because they:
- eat more than 80% of the plant species available, which includes bush tucker for the local indigenous population, and food for native animals.
- foul waterholes
- destabilise dune crests
- destroy taps, pumps, stock fences, cattle watering points and even toilets while looking for water, particularly in times of severe drought
Small numbers of feral camels are rounded up and exported live to the Middle East, where the flesh of disease-free wild camels is prized as a delicacy. Because their breed is so pure, they are also used as breeding stock for Arab camel racing stables.
However, the current export trade is not sufficient to control numbers, so last year, 5,000 were rounded up and shot.
Of course, I had to ride a camel.
“Lean back!”
This is why!
Safely down.
This picture of camels reminded me (a bit) of Elioth Gruner’s “Spring Frost” (below).
“Spring Frost” by Elioth Gruner
Image from http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/
Galahs
Dinky the singing dingo, a celebrity at Stuart’s Well.
Dingoes can’t bark – they can only howl. Very unnerving, when you hear wild dingoes howling in the middle of the night, just outside your tent, as we did a couple of days later.
You look like you're having a great time on that camel!
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