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World opens up, Australia closes down

Compare the headlines. 
As the rest of the world shares their natural and man made wonders - letting in the light, Uluru's indigenous people, aided by misguided public officials, turn the light off. The climb is integral to visiting Uluru.

Seven new wonders of the world that were not previously accessible

If visiting the world's most ancient temples and monuments-Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Petra-inspires your inner Indiana Jones, just imagine what it would be like to explore world wonders few people have ever even heard of yet.
Some of the world's most staggering historical sites - places that have long existed as local secrets - have recently been made accessible thanks to a slew of intrepid tour operators, hoteliers, or infrastructure developments. In the coming years, these places will find their way onto hordes of global travellers' bucket lists, but for now they are still relatively under the radar.
There are the dramatic, thousand-year-old temple complexes in India that are immaculately preserved but were hard to visit in style - until the area's first luxury hotel opened. There is a jungle-shrouded archaeological site in Colombia that predates Machu Picchu by 650 years, and a spectacular sacred city in Sri Lanka that's until now been off-limits because of underdeveloped infrastructure and political turmoil. And that's only a drop in the bucket. (Click link above to read full article)
Sigiriya Rock - A Lion-Shaped Fortress in Sri Lanka. When King Kassapa ruled over Ceylon in the late 400s, he decided to place his capital atop a 600-foot-high granite boulder smack in the centre of modern-day Sri Lanka - a country that's slowly been reborn to tourists after a prolonged civil war ended in 2009. The whole thing doubled as a massive piece of sculpture: Not only did workers carve stone staircases leading all the way to the top; they also added brick and plaster work to create the illusion of a gigantic lion emerging from the forest. The first two flights of stairs are straddled by enormous, clawed paws; another flight emerges from the lion's mouth. At the summit, visitors can explore what's left of Kassapa's palace, gardens, fountains, and ponds-but the climb is half the fun. Then you can retreat to your own sumptuous digs, at the soon-to-open Pekoe House, in nearby Kandy. 

Australia's famed Uluru outback monolith to be closed to climbers

Australia's world-famous Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, will be closed to climbers from 2019, its management board said on Wednesday, ending a decades-long campaign by Aborigines to protect their sacred monolith in the Northern Territory.
A board of eight traditional owners and four government officials voted unanimously to close the rock to climbers, a spokesperson told Reuters.
"The climb is a men's sacred area, the men have closed it," chairman Sammy Wilson added in a statement. "It has cultural significance that includes certain restrictions." (Click link above to read full article)

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