Tangjiahe and Jiuzhaigou: A Return to Nature
By admin on 2015-01-19

Explore the Tangjiahe Nature Reserve, home to a breadth of animals, including the endangered Golden Monkey, Cloud Leopard, and Giant Panda. Hike along the many trails, crossing paths with wildlife in their winter habitat. The serene environment envelopes us as we make slow, calculated movements, trying to blend in with the scenery in the presence of the animals going about their lives.

After exploring the Tangjiahe Nature Reserve, experience an original 15th century Buddhist monastery in Pingwu, which was unfortunately affected by the May 2008 earthquake, but still retains some of its five-hundred year old structures. Stopping by a Qiang minority village along the way, we journey on to Jiuzhaigou National Park where film director Ang Lee filmed stunning landscape scenes for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." The next two days, we explore the natural beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage Site and World Biosphere Reserve, enjoying picnic lunches in the serenity of its multi-leveled waterfalls, vivid lakes and picturesque paths. Our first morning takes us on a hike at Zechawa Valley, where overlapping peaks stretch beyond sight, followed by a lovely hike in Shu Zheng Valley by many of its over 40 stunning lakes.

Our second full day in Jiuzhaigou finds us in the beautiful virgin forests of Rize Valley, where we look down into its famed Five-Flower Lake with its shallow lakebed covered in ancient fallen trees. In contrast, we find everything nearby Mirror Lake is reflected on the lake's surface, creating a double landscape of grasslands, forests and distant mountains.