Palm trees are not a common sight in central Australia, in fact natural occurrences are extremely rare. Palms need too much water to survive in a place that get’s only 200mm of rain a year, unless you have the perfect local geology creating an ideal micro-climate. Palm Valley in the Finke Gorge National Park is an area of rocky ground next to high northern cliff where the water from a creek takes a lot longer to evaporate and the cliff provides protection from hot winds and the sun. You need a proper 4WD to get there, ie. something with some ground clearance. More information here. The drive along the Finke river (when not in flood) is impressive also.
The “red cabbage palm, Livistona mariae” – recently discovered that they are not a leftover from Gondwana Land, despite the signs in the park, but were transplanted perhaps some 15,000 years ago, possibly by Aboriginal people.
It’s a nice walk but very remote, the path is reasonably well sign posted but do your research and plan well. There is no phone coverage for normal cell phones in the park! You can easily do it as a day trip from Alice, providing you have the right vehicle!
- | Aperture: ƒ/8 | Camera: SLT-A77V | Focal length: 16mm | ISO: 100 | Shutter speed: 1/160s
