One of the best places to base yourself in the past 30 years when exploring the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park and surrounds has always been Wilpena Pound Resort. Family friendly, most visitors stay in the powered and unpowered sites and utilise the various amenities, while those with a need for a motel-like experience can stay at the resort’s serviced rooms, some with kitchenettes, adjacent to Captain Starlight’s restaurant and the small swimming pool.

Today there are far more accommodation options to choose from both inside the mountainous amphitheatre of Wilpena Pound and outside. Farming properties have diversified to include high-quality restaurants and cafes, freestanding sky and star view cabins and dog friendly caravan parks, stores, art galleries and fueling stations. Glamping has become an experience for city dwelling tourists who don’t quite want to rough it, but who want the outdoors’ experience with the comforts of a bathroom and sometimes air-conditioning.

Rawnsley Park Station is one of the better-known stations offering a variety of stay experiences. The caravan park is the most affordable and, for dog lovers, it offers the opportunity to bring along your pet that is excluded from National Park camps. Comfortable holiday units, some also allowing dogs, start at $160 while the luxury straw-made eco-villas are from more than $400 a night. They are fully self-contained, one- and two-bedroom environmentally friendly units with retractable ceilings to view the night sky. You can also book out the stone quarried Rawnsley homestead. Available to all is the Woolshed restaurant with meals in the mid $30 range and lamb dishes at the top of the menu. A good size swimming pool would be well utilised in summer.

The station is a working sheep farm running 2000 sheep on the southern side of Wilpena Pound. Managed by fourth generation Flinders Ranges’ residents Tony and Julieanne Smith, the farm has been in the family since 1953. Their mantra is ‘environmentally responsible and sustainable tourism’ and they have worked to protect the diverse vegetation of Rawnsley Bluff at the southern tip of the Pound. They were one of the early adopters of farm tourism and today the property earns more through tourism than it does through farming.

There are also a few free and cheap camping sites scattered around the Flinders Ranges such as the Hookina Ruins about six kilometres away from Wilpena Pound, the Parachilna Gorge and those available through the South Australian Environment Department’s National Parks online booking website. Expect to pay $15 a night for a campsite with a fire pit and a basic toilet servicing the grounds such as you will find at the Trezona riverbank camp, which caters for 10 Outback vans or tents. You will also need a park entry fee if you are staying at any of the National Park sites.

Wilpena Pound Resort remains a favourite with many and should not be overlooked. Many of the trails start from within the Pound so at the least you may find yourself having a coffee and cake on the resort’s café porch. The resort was bought from the Rasheed family in 2012 and is now owned by Indigenous Business Australia and the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association. The Adnyamathanha people have lived in the Flinders Ranges for tens of thousands of years and the region remains significant today in contemporary Adnyamathanha society. Many of the workers are now indigenous Adnyamathanha or originate from nearby towns such as Port Augusta on traineeships. This gives the Pound an authentic cultural flavour. Under relatively new management, they will need to ensure the Pound remains commercially competitive against other emerging accommodation options and activities. One of the surprising advantages of the Pound is its access to a large clean water spring. Energy is made by a $2.5 million off-grid solar electricity system powering the whole of the resort. You will have the best hot, soft and clean water showers in the amenities and rooms that you will find in Australia. For many that is worth the $16 for one or $26 for two for an unpowered campsite surrounded by the magnificent colours and mountains of the ranges.

Another initiative has been to establish the Ikara Safari Camp. Two-person safari tents for singles or couples wanting a luxury getaway with en suite bathroom, king bed, reverse cycle air-conditioning and their own private deck and fire pit have raised the outdoor-experience bar. They also have two family safari tents for up to four people. Compared to other glamping sites elsewhere, the tents are actually good value starting from $320 a night and can be packaged with scenic flights, 4WD tours and meals. Located away from the main camping grounds, the views are spectacular. For those with a tighter budget there are two ‘permanent’ two-person tents with electricity and a bar fridge also available for $90 in the main camp area not far from amenities.

‘Ikara’ means meeting place in the indigenous language and you can see why people gravitate to the Flinders Ranges and surrounds. The red dirt lands framed by towering rocky ranges hold a special place in our country’s folklore but there is nothing like seeing it with your own eyes and getting the red dust under your shoes.