The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
A walk through 600million years of history
Phoebe Smith sleeps beneath the stars on a hike across a land slowly regaining its biodiversity
Staring at two giant snakes should be an unnerving experience. Especially when your guide has just told you that this particular pairing devoured a whole crowd of unsuspecting people. But in this case, rather than nightmares, it was the stuff of dreams. Well, Dreamtime anyway.
I was in South Australia doing the Arkaba Walk – one of the newest Great Walks of Australia – learning about the aboriginals’ explanation for Wilpena Pound, the amphitheatre of rock at the heart of the Flinders Ranges.
“The Adnyamathanha believe that this was a meeting place. But while people gathered for a ceremony, two serpents lay in wait, fencing them in. Those present not only didn’t see them, but they even mistook their eyes for stars. Then…” our guide, Darlene, clapped her hands together, “…they swallowed them all, except for four. After that, they were so full they never moved, and to this day if you look closely you can see their heads…”
She gestured to the prominent summits of St Mary Peak and Beatrice Hill. I squinted against the sunshine, attempting to make them out amid the folds of multicoloured rocks.
The story was a dramatic insight into the beliefs of the indigenous people who first called this place home, but my walking companions were more concerned about real snakes, particularly as we were headed for a night under the stars in swag bags – little more than canvas sheets.
This was to be a bush walk with a difference. Yes, there would be roll-up beds and, true, we would be sleeping outside that night, but we would have the luxury of our luggage being taken to the camp ahead, hot showers, and food prepared for us by top chefs, accompanied by premium riesling from the Clare Valley.
To help us reach camp each night – and navigate snakes both real and imagined – was Darlene. Her enthusiasm was infectious, from describing the 600 million-year geological history to recounting tales of the first Europeans who stumbled upon this natural wonder in 1802, and those who followed, first in search of precious stones and metal ore, and then land on which to rear sheep.
It was the latter that had brought me here, as Arkaba Station (after which this walk is named) has for 10 years been the focus of a conservation project to return all 64,000 acres of Arkaba to its pre-European state, filled with endemic plants and wildlife only, removing sheep and invasive species such as feral goats, cats and foxes.
As we reached the edge of Arkaba land and began walking on the dusty ground, the trees became more spaced out and the land cracked underfoot. “The impact of sheep farming for over 150 years was vast,” said Darlene. “The ground was eroded, the soil quality was poor and we’d lost a lot of vegetation, but now we are seeing a big difference.”
Over the course of the afternoon, she pointed out the regrowth of species such as bullock bush, Oswald’s wattle and leafless cherry. We passed western grey kangaroos and watched wedgetailed eagles swoop and soar on the thermals above the rocky towers that lined the trail. It was like walking into a postcard of the Australian bush.
As dusk fell, we arrived at camp, where any concerns over reptilian visitors were washed away with the bush shower, particularly when we realised the swags were perched on raised wooden platforms, lit by lanterns. After a cheese platter, free-flowing wine and a three-course offering consisting of foraged bush tomatoes, local pears and butternut pumpkin tortellini, I fell asleep, lulled
Phoebe Smith hiked the Arkaba Walk (arkabawalk.com), one of the Great Walks of Australia, on its three-night/four-day programme, which operates between late March and early October. It costs from A$2,900/£1,630 (twin share) with a maximum group size of 10, which includes a guide, all meals, drinks (including alcohol), luggage transfer between camps, two nights in luxury swags, one night in the Arkaba Homestead (arkaba conservancy.com), plus flight and road return transfers from Adelaide.