Angkerle Atwatye –Standley Chasm

A narrow quartzite gorge in the West MacDonnell Ranges, fifty kilometres west of Alice Springs, owned and run by the local Arrernte community — Angkerle Atwatye is its name, and the place is sacred to Arrernte women's Dreaming. A 2.4-kilometre walk up Angkerle Creek, through cycads and ghost gums and over river stones, reaches the chasm itself: walls of folded red rock standing close and tall. For about an hour either side of noon the sun drops straight in and the rock face lights up — the reason most people time their visit to the middle of the day, against every other instinct in the desert. Aboriginal guided tours, run by the owners, read the Country, the bush food and the traditional uses of the plants along the creek. There's a café and gift shop under the gums at the entrance, camping, and the chasm sits on Section 4 of the Larapinta Trail. On Arrernte Country.