Across the Kimberley Part 10 - Off to the 'Bungle Bungles'

The next morning we left El Questro, after seeing the early sun light up the spectacular escarpment that rises up behind it. What an incredible sight! My first photos below show the campsite and this escarpment. 

We drove back along the old Gibb River Road and then headed towards the immense and now famous range commonly known as the ‘Bungle Bungles’ situated in the World Heritage listed Purnululu National Park.  “Bungle Bungles’ is an extraordinary, almost quirky name, but then the range does rather look like a quirky accident of nature, with its orange and black-striped mounds that rather resemble beehives. These cones, which are made up of sandstone and conglomerates, formed from stacks of ancient seabeds which were then subjected to land movement through fault lines, and weathering by strong winds and water. They rise about 250 metres above semi-arid grasslands. Amazingly, some trees cling precariously to them. How they find any soil for their roots is astonishing. 

The orange stripes are due to the presence of iron minerals and the black stripes are due to layers of more porous sandstone that has retained water, allowing algae and cyanobacteria to thrive. We saw these black regions around the Kimberley coastline as well, especially around the waterfalls. 

Aerial images of these unique formations that I have seen on the internet look absolutely stunning! Many of our group were fortunate to be able to take flights over then and capture amazing shots of them. 

Interestingly, while the Bungle Bungles were formed around 350 to 375 million years ago, occupy an area of about 450 square kilometres, are visible from Space, and Aboriginal people have lived among them for over 40 000 years, they were only ‘discovered’ by the rest of us Australians in 1983, when a documentary of the Kimberley was being made. What a well-kept secret! It was declared a World Heritage Area in 2003. 

Fortunately the Bungle Bungles are under the control of the Jaru and Gidja people, the traditional custodians of Purnululu National Park. We were to be guided to one of the best known gorges within the park by one of these Aboriginal custodians the next day. He was fantastic! More of that in my next post! 

In the meantime, the photos below show a little of what we saw on the very long and exceptionally bumpy drive into the park. Talk about bone-shaking! We just clung on to our seats! (We saw quite a few vehicles with broken axles along the way. This is no place for cars or caravans! ) 

Some of the tented cabins at El Questro. (The luxurious accommodation is in another section.) 

This is the back of my cabin, where the shower etc. are. The front has canvas walls. 

A pool and recreation area.

The early morning sun revealed the huge escarpment behind our cabins. 

Our last glimpse of El Questro.

Out of the El Questro region and off to the Bungle Bungles.

A typical sight and set of signs along the road.

At the entrance to Purnlulu National Park.

Our first glimpse of the park - on its outskirts.

The typical cone-shaped rocks, though the stripes were not evident in this section of the park.

Interesting rock formations.

Incredibly resilient palm trees growing on the rocky faces.