Parts of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, including Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), are closed to visitors until early June out of respect for a senior Aboriginal owner who died recently. A 20-day period of mourning is underway, but may be cut short if the traditional owners of the area bow to pressures from the Northern Territory government and local tourism interests worried about lost business. The indigenous people have long objected to outsiders climbing Uluru because it is considered sacred, but permit it in cooperation with the national government and the area’s national park status.
