The sun was burning high and bright on a pellucid morning off Australia's Kimberley Coast when I stepped onto Ngula, more commonly known as Jar Island. The dull yellow of sand and sandstone contrasted with the vivid blue of the Timor Sea all around me. At my back was a rocky outcropping where millennia ago the island's traditional land owners, the Wunambal Gaambera people, lay their dead. Before me, a cluster of billion-year-old boulders contained clues about how they lived.
As I passed through these monoliths, I saw that they bore traces of serpents and individuals in headdresses. At more than 30,000 years old, these paintings are considered the oldest figurative rock art in the world, though their age and significance are still debated. "The thing about the Kimberley," said Greg Fitzgerald, a guide on Seabourn Pursuit, the expedition ship on which I'd come to the region, "is that it will leave you with more questions than answers."
The Kimberley is one of the world's last great wildernesses. Humans have inhabited this territory for 70,000 years, yet it remains stubbornly untamed. Its vast, arid interior, which is three times the size of England, has never been successfully charted. Its 1.8-billion-year-old cliff faces, gargantuan waterfalls, and dry, cracked expanses-where you may come across a dinosaur footprint-feel suspended in eternal stillness, undisturbed by human history. The place's meditative calm is an antidote to the frenetic distractions of modernity and a major motivation for traveling to one of the most remote and isolated parts of the planet.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
ANCIENT WAY
The vivid colors and patterns typical of robes in Benzilan A centuries-old trading route through China's Yunnan Province unlocks a land of rice paddies and teahouses where tradition persists in the face of modernity's relentless push
ROLLING ON THE RIVER
With the launch of Viking Mississippi, American cruising enters its next chapter
HOLD THAT THOUGHT
At a big-hearted temple retreat in rural Japan, Zen rituals fused with mindfulness practices teach Kate Crockett to be more present
be cool
Outside the summer months, Lake Como hums with a slower, more local rhythm. Now travelers re getting wise to the appeal of the legendary Italian vacation spot in all seasons
BLUE ORIGIN
At a retreat on Costa Rica's Papagayo Peninsula, one of the world's longevity hot spots, Maria Yagoda remembers the importance of living well
CITY OF DREAMS
On the ever-shifting banks of the Mississippi River, French, Spanish, Haitian, and African influences have shaped the contours of modern New Orleans, that singular mecca of jazz, jambalaya, and Mardi Gras. Now, 20 years after the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Crescent City resident Leslie Pariseau finds a complex but resilient community where no idea is too far-fetched
CUTE COUPLE
Japan's long-standing romance with Italian food is playing out in inventive ways all over Tokyo
TECH SUPPORT
With cutting-edge treatments increasingly jostling for space with traditional therapies, Kelsey Eisen ponders our recent obsession with all things science-backed
IN GOOD COMPANY
For Jen Murphy, a group hiking retreat in the California desert shows that community and connection are cornerstones of a healthy life
IN BLOOM
Just off the beaches of southern Sri Lanka, a design-forward lifestyle district is flourishing Just off the beaches of southern Sri Lanka, a design-forward lifestyle district is flourishing
