Site Report: Tacheng

Visits

• 2013-01-05: After all the trouble with the flight, we were pleased to find the driver from the hotel waiting for us at the airport. We drove for a few hours along some very twisty roads on the way to the hotel near the monkey sanctuary. The rice terraces and villages along the way were impossibly located on some very steep cliffs. The next morning, we headed out early to try and see the monkeys. China only has one time zone, so it was surprising to see that the sunrise took place at 8:00 in the morning. The temperatures were freezing, and on the way to see the monkeys, it started to snow. After some worry about whether or not we would even see the monkeys, we were surprised to find out that there was a feeding station. This was a bit of a letdown as I prefer the challenge of seeing the wild animals, but it was interesting to see the monkeys in person, and they were still certainly wild. The Yunnan Snub-nosed Monkey is the highest altitude primate in the world. Later in the day, we hiked up part of the mountain next to our hotel. There were some Naxi women carrying huge bundles of sticks on the mountain. Their backs were hunched over from years of doing this work. We finally reached a nice forested area, but the path was too steep to continue far into the forest.

Species Seen

Lifelists

• Asia
• World

Trips

• Around The World in 66 Days