Out of Alice: The Claypans After Rain

The Ilparpa Claypans lie just fifteen kilometres southeast of the township of Alice Springs in the West MacDonnell Ranges. They provide a break for those seeking respite or some calm. When rain falls, the water is shallow and can be driven across by a four-wheel drive. Look up, and you may see a circling eagle or a kite.

Many locals take their dogs out to the claypans and let them run. When the water rises, the dogs charge through it, feverish with delight. Others take motorbikes and zip down trails, kicking up dust. The reality of the claypans is that nature must coexist with human activity. 

More than one person has ventured out to see the claypans full after rain and become bogged. Rather than drive around the edge of the water, others are content to walk. Out of sight of the road, the claypans are made for relaxation and a sense of aloneness.

The Ilparpa Claypans after rainfall

Sunset over the Ilparpa Claypans after rain is special. It rains so infrequently in Central Australia, that when it does, beauty settles over the landscape as the sun paints the sky pink and gold. Birdcalls and peacefulness are the legacies of a dying day, its closure spent away from life's hustle.

For most of the year, the claypans are dry and sandy. At night, they are still a good place to watch the stars, but they join the rest of Central Australia in its perpetual thirst for rain. During the dry, people still walk their dogs across the waterless basin, but it is when the storms gather and the claypans fill that the area explodes with life and turns into an oasis. 

The relief from everyday life visiting the claypans is not to be dismissed. It is its own small world, a photographer’s paradise. The challenge is not in knowing it is stunning in the changing light; the challenge is in preserving its natural state so that those beyond our time can enjoy it also. Like so many other landmarks, the claypans compromise with humans, allowing them to visit and leave their mark. May we not take too much, and may this unique feature last untarnished long into the future.