Wintjiri Wiru world-first drone show lights the sky over Uluru

Resist, if you can, the urge to raise your phone to the night sky above Uluru as the devil dog Kurpany pulsates in three-dimensional multicolour above you.

Wintjiri Wiru, the biggest permanent drone show in the world, is the new immersive experience in Australia's red centre - and it's one for all the senses.

With the vast horizon on all sides, the sun not long set beneath it, the story of the local Mala people unfolds in an explosion of colour. As you sit on a raised wooden platform in the dunes, the taste of a cucumber cocktail and lemon myrtle crocodile on your tongue, the voices of the Anangu and music of the desert rise from the ground below and the mulga scrub in front.

"We did whatever we could to conceal the technology ... we wanted you to be able to be in the desert and feel it," Canadian light artist and show designer Bruce Ramus said.

Presented in two acts, 400 drones initially take off from a 45-metre square platform hidden in the spinifex grass to show the Mala people's inma, or ceremony, being interrupted by an invitation from the west.

When the offer is declined an evil spirit takes the form of trees, rocks and birds to destroy the Mala's ceremony. Despite warnings from Luunpa, the kingfisher woman, the people don't see it coming.

Laser lights dance among the shrubs. Low-lying trees act as a natural screen on which to project images of hopping wallabies and dramatic water flows.

The show's climax is the evil spirit morphing into a giant devil dog, which looms 200 metres over the audience using 800 super-light drones equipped with lights.

It forces the men to flee, but the women stay and their descendants live on in the shadow of Uluru today.

This is an ancient Indigenous story, passed down over thousands of years in song and art by the Anangu living between Mutitjulu at the base of the rock and Docker River.

Bringing that complex, age-old cultural knowledge to outsiders using the very latest technology has taken years of negotiation between Voyages Indigenous Tourism, which owns Ayers Rock Resort, and the Mala people.

It cost more than $10 million and the Anangu have been involved every step of the way.

"When we saw the result of all the work we felt quite overcome," Rene Kulitja, a senior Anangu woman and acclaimed artist, said through a translator, on behalf of the consultation group. "It was amazing ... that it came from our tjukurpa, our story, our understanding of the world."

A proportion of ticket sale proceeds goes back to the Mala people.

"The story belongs to the Anangu and Anangu should benefit from how the story is told," Voyages chief executive Matthew Cameron-Smith said. "We have the privilege of working with the oldest continuous culture in the world."

For decades visitors flocked from across Australia and around the world to defy the wishes of the local Aboriginal people and climb the mighty Uluru, a canvas of sacred and culturally significant footprints embedded in the Anangu story.

That ended in 2019 when the climb permanently closed. Finding ways of appropriately sharing the spectacular natural wonder of the rock and its place in history, geology, culture and landscape has been forefront in the minds of Voyages, tourism authorities and traditional owners.

It is easy as an Australian, especially if you live outside the capital cities, to take this land's stories for granted.

European architecture, Asian hospitality, African landscapes - even American extravagance - are tempting.

But since COVID-19 we're rediscovering the spectacular in our own backyard.

Read more on Explore:

Artist Bruce Munro's permanent Field of Light exhibition, which opened in 2016 and covers seven football fields of red dirt with 50,000 stems of light, offers one such experience.

Unlike Wintjiri Wiru, your gaze is drawn down. When I went in late 2019 my daughter quickly made friends with other children and raced through the makeshift pathways, kicking up red dust between pockets of illuminated desert colours, the stars winking above.

Wintjiri Wiru, meaning "beautiful view out to the horizon" in Pitjantjatjara, is by no means adults only.

A gourmet hamper option means children aged 10 and over can eat while marvelling at the night sky and tracing Christine Brumby's backlit artwork on the viewing platform steps before the show begins.

When I saw the show on opening night and texted photos home, my nine-year-old was so jealous she refused to talk to me for two days.

For those with a more expansive budget, the sky's the limit.

Tali Wiru is the resort's premium dining experience. With a degustation-like menu, award-winning chef Marcellus Ah Kit, who grew up in the region, was our culinary guide for the evening. He did not disappoint.

Nor did the isolated dune-top setting, the didgeridoo player on arrival, the impeccable wait staff, the campfire-side hot chocolate, or the astronomy talk revealing the secrets of the dark emu in the endless sky.

At a smidgen over $400 per person, this is my pick for the next special anniversary.

When you book Wintjiri Wiru, you'll want to hold your phone to the sky to capture it all. Don't.

Accept the gift of the voice of an ancient culture in an ancient landscape.

Breathe. Taste. Look. Smell. Listen.

Getting there: Qantas and Jetstar fly directly to Uluru from Sydney, Melbourne and Cairns and prices vary. More routes are planned. Or drive from anywhere in Australia.

Staying there: Resort accommodation ranges from Sails in the Desert (from $475/night) and Emu Walk serviced apartments to hotel-style rooms and a campground (from $43/night).

Explore more: ayersrockresort.com.au

Anangu share the mala story, from Kaltukatjara to Uluru, through a drone, sound and light show designed and produced by RAMUS.

Saffron Howden experienced Wintjiri Wiru as a guest of Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia.