Watarrka National Park
| Watarrka National Park | |||
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| Location: | Northern Territory , Australia | ||
| Specialty: | Kings Canyon | ||
| Next city: | Alice Springs | ||
| Surface: | 722 km² | ||
| Founding: | 1982 | ||
| Address: | PO Box 2130 Alice Springs NT 0871 Tel. (08) 8951 8211 |
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The Watarrka National Park comprises the western part of the George Gill Range with Kings Canyon , the largest gorge in Australia and Kathleen Springs . The Kings Creek has this bizarre, to 270 m deep canyon over millions of years into the sandstone walls dug the plateau. At the bottom of the gorge, the existing water holes never dry up. In the upper part of the oasis is the Garden of Eden , a swimming pool surrounded by 100 m high cliffs with lush vegetation, which also cycads grow as a remnant of a humid tropical climate.
The Lost City are rock domes on the plateau, which are criss-crossed by caves and served as places of sleep and cult for the Aborigines of the Luritja people . Rock engravings and paintings indicate a settlement of several thousand years.
The national park can be reached from Alice Springs via the Mereenie Loop gravel roads, which are suitable for cars (a drive-through permit is required) or Ernest Giles Road , past the Henbury meteorite craters . The only asphalt driveway is from the south from Lasseter Highway on Luritja Drive . All-wheel drive vehicles can cope with an extremely stony drive from Hermannsburg through the Finke Gorge National Park .
Flora and fauna
A census carried out in 1986 showed almost 600 plant species. The high humidity in the gorge enables the great variety of plants from red river gums to bottle brushes to fig trees . But the animal world also loves the cool dampness. In addition to budgies , zebra finches and diamond pigeons, the Red-backed Kingfisher and the Golden Kingfisher can also be found. Outside the gorge there is barren vegetation with spinifex grass , desert cassowaries and ghost trees .
history
The explorer Ernest Giles and William Gosse were the first whites who reached the dry river bed in 1872 and named after its main sponsor Fieldon King. Her report brought many cattle farmers to the area. Even so, it has only been accessible since 1960 after Jack Cotterill built a piste to Kings Canyon. At the end of the 1990s, a driveway was paved.
Web links
A Ayers Rock | B Barranyi | C Charles Darwin | D Davenport Range | Davenport-Murchison | Djukbinj | Dulcie Range | E Elsey | F Finke-Gorge | G Garig | Garig-Gunak-Barlu | Gregory | K Cockatoo | Keep River | L Limmen | Litchfield | M Mary River | N Nitmiluk | North Island | U Uluṟu-Kata-Tjuṯa | V Watarrka | West MacDonnell