Tagong March 2010

This trip was just a quick survey for trekking tours in this area, and end of March is a pretty cold month especially at night. However, it was a brilliant and successful 3day hike to a series of lakes and remote monasteries.

Here is a panorama from the area. This photograph was taken from a pass of the G318 National Road towards Litang.

The first moments of the hike part began with a stunning view on Mt. Zhara Lhatse (5820m) - a mountain I was talking about in an earlier post.

Winter in Lhasa

This winter (January 2010) I did my first trip to Tibet proper. Though intensive traveling through Amdo and Kham, this was a completely new experience, not only because of the required Tibet entry permit and the related hassle.

Temple building at Dengsatil Gompa

Birds in Lhasa, Winter 2010

The Lhasa River and the Yarlung Tsangpo host thousands of ducks in winter. Most common were

Bar-headed Geese and...

Winter habitat of Black-necked Crane

In the beginning of December 2009 I was with Meggie and Sid on a birding trip to the North of Yunnan Province. Our aim was a high altitude wetland where a big part of the Black-necked Crane population is spending winter.

On the way off Chengdu we found this pair of Common Kingfishers, obviously having a quarrel...

Two Solar Eclipses in Sichuan

Since the Chinese government closed down blogspot.com, it is hard for me to post any new reports and pictures on my Blog. Abroad it is much easier to find a way to get around this censorship and eventually I am able to begin to work my journeys all up.

In 22.July 2009 and 15.January 2010 there were two nice solar eclipses over Sichuan which I could manage to observe with my own eyes. The first was on Tsemet Pass (4550m) with the marvellous west face of Minya Konka (7556m) in the front.

waiting for the great moment

Mt. Zhara Lhatse

This post shall give a short introduction of one of the most sovereign mountains of the area between Gyarong and Kham: Mt. Zhara Lhatse (5820m)
(in Chinese: Yala Shenshan)

He pops out behind the rolling hills of the Tagong Grassland and the eastern part of the Tibetan High Plateau. But actually he still belongs to

BIRD WATCHING in SICHUAN

Birding trip in Sichuan, May 18th - June 14th 2009


This trip was an extensive birding experience through the main bird habitats of Sichuan. Although May and June usually are the best months to go bird watching in Sichuan - in terms of birds and weather, this year we had to fight with really untypical weather for this season: