Live Your Best Lives
There are 7 nature reserves in Qinghai Province. Among these 7 national nature reserves, the most mysterious and inaccessible ones are the Hoh Xil and Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserves, a paradise that protects the ecological elves of the plateau and a holy place that protects China's water sources.
This is also the most pristine place in Qinghai and even in China. This guide wants to tell you more about these mysterious wildernesses. Yes, we also have routes to Hoh Xil and Sanjiangyuan. We reached the closest place to these destinations, where we did not disturb them, full of longing and reverence.
"Nature magazine said that in 50 years, more than one million species of land creatures will disappear from the Earth. Due to the impact of human activities, the rate of species extinction is 1,000 times faster than the natural extinction rate, with an average of one species becoming extinct every hour."
Throughout our planet's billions of years, there have been five major extinctions of species due to dramatic changes in the landscape. This sixth extinction event, caused by human activity, is known as a mass extinction or a mass extinction. Today, with little habitat left for wildlife, another area has come to the public's attention due to the struggles and bloodshed it shed: the Hoh Xil National Park.
Before 1985, there were about one million Tibetan antelopes, a plateau animal, living in Hoh Xil, but economic interests led to a bloody massacre of Tibetan antelopes in Hoh Xil.
The protection patrols composed of local Tibetans and Han Chinese also suffered bloodshed and sacrificed several times. At the foot of the Kunlun Mountains, the monument to the martyr Sonam Darje still stands. The Hoh Xil has infinitely magnified life. In this distant destination, wonderful lives and changing human nature are staged one after another.
Now, this place has truly become a refuge for plateau animals, with countless rare and exotic animals returning to the plateau. At 1:00 PM on July 7, 2017, at the 41st World Heritage Conference held in Krakow, Poland, the Hoh Xil National Park in Qinghai Province was unanimously approved for inclusion on the World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee, becoming China's 51st World Heritage site.
"In November 2017, the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve in Qinghai, the Altun Mountains in Xinjiang, and the Qiangtang National Nature Reserve in Tibet jointly issued an announcement prohibiting all units or individuals from entering the reserves at will and conducting illegal crossing activities." We will travel south from Golmud to the Sonam Darje Nature Reserve and stay here, on the edge of the Hoh Xil, to pay tribute to the heroes, the courage, and the nature.
The traditional geographical definition of Hoh Xil lies south of the Kunlun and Altun Mountains and north of the Tanggula Mountains. Administratively, it encompasses western Qinghai Province, the northern corner of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the southeastern corner of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve, as designated by the Ministry of Natural Resources, is primarily located in the western part of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
Crossing the Hoh Xil has long been banned, but a road from Golmud to Lhasa passes through the edge of the Hoh Xil. Along the way, there are the Kunlun Mountains National Geopark, the Wuji Dragon and Phoenix Palace, the Kunlun Pass, and the Sonam Darje Monument. Along the way, you can appreciate the charm of the Hoh Xil Desert and see the figures of the plateau elves.
Wuji Longfeng Palace is a Taoist temple. It is a rare resting place on the way to Hoh Xil. The stone gate here is magnificent. There is a landscape of eighteen pillars in the square in front of the temple. There are statues of Queen Mother of the West and others in the main hall.
Tips:
Opening hours: 8:00-18:00
The Kunlun Pass is 4,768 meters above sea level. It has been developed into a scenic spot. A stone tablet of the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve stands at the pass, and a sculpture of Sonam Dargye is also built here.
Tips:
Admission: Free
Reference time: 1-3 hours
Opening hours: 08:00-18:00
Transportation: The distance from Golmud to Kunlunkou is 150 kilometers. Chartering a car from Golmud costs about 400-800 yuan.
Yaochi, the Jade Pool of the Queen Mother of the West, is a sacred place of worship for Taoists. It is located at an altitude of 4,300 meters. Legend has it that on the third day of the third lunar month, the sixth day of the sixth lunar month, and the eighth day of the eighth lunar month every year, the Queen Mother of the West would hold a banquet here and invite all kinds of gods to hold a Peach Feast.
Tips:
Xiwangmu Yaochi is 250 kilometers away from Golmud, and the cost of a chartered car is about 2,000 yuan (round trip).
On January 18, 1994, Sonam Dargye died in a gunfight with poachers. The severe cold in the Hoh Xil froze him into a sculpture. Two years later, in order to commemorate him, the Sonam Dargye Conservation Station was established on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. There is a small ecological exhibition hall here, with separate work and living areas, and simple accommodation hotels in the summer.
If Hoh Xil is the home of wild animals, then Sanjiangyuan, my country's largest national nature reserve, is the birthplace of the cradle of Chinese life.
The Sanjiangyuan area covers most of Qinghai. The ice and snow of many mountains such as the Bayankala Mountains, the Amnye Machen Mountains, the Tanggula Mountains, etc. have melted and converged into three important waterways: the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and the Lancang River, forming a gathering area with a population of 600 million. The importance of this place is self-evident. Although scenic spots such as the Two Lakes and One Monument have been closed for environmental remediation, we can still get a glimpse of the charm of the Sanjiangyuan water tower along the villages along the way.
In 2009, a scientific expedition to the Three Rivers Source region of my country, based on the principle of "the source of a river is far away," determined that the Karez River is the source of the Yellow River, conveying 49% of the Yellow River's total water volume; the Tuotuo River is the source of the Yangtze River, conveying 25% of the Yangtze River's total water volume; and the Zhaqu River is the source of the Lancang River, conveying 15% of the Lancang River's total water volume. Therefore, the Three Rivers Source region has been dubbed the "Water Tower of China."
The Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve is located in the heart of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, in the southern part of Qinghai Province. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region in the southwest, Sichuan Province in the east, and Dulan County of the Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province in the north. There are multiple branch nature reserves within the entire area.
Our itinerary mainly revolves around the Amnye Machen Nature Reserve. The Amnye Machen Snow Mountain is located in the Amnye Machen Tourist Scenic Area in the northwest of Machen County. It is located on the south side of the eastern section of the East Kunlun Southern Margin Fault. It has a complex structure and an extremely complex evolutionary history. It is an important area for studying Tethys and ancient Asia.
Gaduo Juewo is a sacred mountain, one of the four sacred mountains of Tibetan Buddhism, along with Mount Kailash in Tibet, Mount Meili in Yunnan, and Mount Amnye Machen in Qinghai. With its main peak at 5,470 meters above sea level and an average elevation of 4,900 meters, it is a sacred place that is difficult to access. Legend has it that Gaduo Juewo was a wise and courageous general who led his soldiers to defend the beautiful and fertile "Duodu", ensuring that people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and that both humans and livestock prospered.
The Amnye Machen Mountains are a branch of the Kunlun Mountains. The snow-capped mountains have beautiful scenery and are also home to many legends. During the circumambulation of the mountain, the main peak of the Amnye Machen Snow Mountain, Machen Gangri Peak, appears in front of tourists with a new look again and again as the angle changes. It can be said that there is a new scene at every step.
In the morning light, the snow-capped mountains are illuminated by golden light, with red in the white and white in the red. It is majestic, magnificent, solemn and tranquil, magical and moving.
The water of Donggecuo Lake comes from Amnye Machen. Located in the source area of the Yellow River, Donggecuo Lake also has a large wetland and a fascinating red grassland. When the deep autumn colors come around National Day, the meadows by the lake will be transformed into eye-catching red grass beaches, and the scenery is breathtaking.
Both of these "human restricted areas" contain many wild animals, the most famous of which are probably the Tibetan antelope, black-necked crane, Tibetan wild donkey, plateau yak, etc.
In the late 1980s, because the soft undercoat of the Tibetan antelope could be used to make an expensive scarf, the number of these elves on the Hoh Xil Plateau dropped sharply. According to statistics, at the lowest point, the number once dropped to 23,000. Now with the establishment of the nature reserve, people's awareness of protecting the Tibetan antelope has gradually increased, and the number of Tibetan antelopes has recovered.
May to June is the best time for the Tibetan antelopes to migrate in the Hoh Xil National Park. The Sun Lake where Sonam Darje died is the main migration site for the Tibetan antelopes.
Wild donkeys, living at altitudes above 3,500 meters, like to move in groups and often race across the Hoh Xil grasslands, a way of showing off their charm. They also enjoy racing with cars, stopping only after a vehicle passes them.
Tibetan wild donkeys are drought-resistant, but when there is an extreme water shortage, they will actively seek out places with high groundwater levels to "dig wells" and provide water sources for life on the plateau.
There are still groups of wolves active on the Zhahe Wild Wolf Beach in the Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve. Wolves are predators and wolf packs are composed of nuclear families, including a pair of spouses and their children, and sometimes also adopted underage wolf cubs.
What is an uninhabited area? What is a protected area? In Hoh Xil and Sanjiangyuan, you can experience the wilderness firsthand. Hundreds of kilometers of pristine landscapes gradually tell the song of the vast land, whether it's Gesar's chants or the heroic protection. Traveling far is often a story, but sometimes the journey isn't as smooth as one might expect.
This is an uninhabited area with a harsh natural environment and fragile ecology. It is a protected area and the source of water for hundreds of millions of people downstream. It is irreplaceable and a secret place. I hope everyone who comes here will be in awe and make a pilgrimage to life and nature!
