Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has been ranked joint eighth in the world for golden hour, making it the highest-placed destination in Oceania in a new global study of sunset conditions.
Commissioned by Kuoni and developed with Jim Dale, Founder and Senior Meteorologist at British Weather Services, the research assessed 165 destinations against six weighted factors: cloud cover, light pollution, artificial brightness, rainfall, wind speed and average sunset duration.
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park scored 88.22 out of 100, tying with California’s San Joaquin Valley.
The Flinders Ranges in South Australia also performed strongly, ranking 13th globally with a score of 86.70.
Wadi Rum in Jordan took first place overall with 95.92, followed by Namibia’s Sossusvlei on 94.93 and Damaraland on 91.83.
Namibia secured three positions within the global top six, with Etosha National Park also ranking sixth.
Wadi Rum’s result was supported by low average cloud cover and minimal rainfall, while Sossusvlei recorded no light pollution and an average sunset duration of 27.9 minutes.
Greece emerged as the strongest European destination in the study, placing four locations within the global top 20.
Lindos Acropolis in Rhodes ranked ninth, followed by Rhodes Town, Sounion’s Temple of Poseidon and Navagio Shipwreck Beach.
Other destinations among the leading results included Chile’s Atacama Desert, Oman’s Wahiba Sands, Botswana’s Okavango Delta, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates.
