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Photo
courtesy of Daniel Winkler
Photo
courtesy of Daniel Winkler
Photo
courtesy of Daniel Winkler
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Flora
• Natural History • Cultural Heritage
THE
TIBETAN PLATEAU
Western Sichuan &
Tibet
June
14-30, 2009
The
Tibetan Plateau has for centuries been a place of fascination
for Western naturalists and explorers. Nowhere else
in the world even comes close to putting so much
terrain so high into the sky. Tibet is also home to
a free-spirited pastoralist people with a distinctive
Tantric Buddhist spirituality. Expansive grasslands
in the eastern part nurture some of the richest alpine
plant communities in the world. High basins further
west support domestic yak and timid herds of wild ungulates
like Tibetan gazelle and their predators, the Tibetan
wolf and snow leopard.
The Tibetan highlands—beyond the Himalaya range
and west of Sichuan’s panda country—form
a resplendent tapestry of rolling hills, meadows, lakes
surprisingly large and often a sky of deep blue with
endless puffy clouds. Local people still accompany their
herds of yak, camping in traditional tents of canvas
and felt. Birders and plant enthusiasts tend to be well-rewarded
for their efforts.
After an introduction to the fascinating city of Chengdu
and a visit to the giant panda breeding center, we will
visit China’s spectacular Jiuzhaigou National
Park. We will then start our overland journey through
the eastern part of Tibet (actually situated today in
the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai).
We will cross the Ruoergai grasslands and its extensive
wetland areas, including a high elevation nature reserve
that provides breeding habitat for Greylag Geese and
rare Black-necked Cranes. We will also visit Labrang
Monastery, an important center of Tibetan Buddhist Learning,
with colleges devoted to traditional medicine, tantric
studies, and Buddhist philosophy. This segment of the
journey culminates at the city of Xining near Qinghai
Lake or “Koko Nor,” once an
important landmark along the Central Asian trade routes.
From Xining, we will take the overnight train across
the Tibetan Plateau to Lhasa, historic center of the
Tibetan world and currently the capital of the “Tibetan
Autonomous Region.” Lhasa has numerous sacred
sites, each with distinctive esoteric rituals, colorful
iconography and profound spiritual significance to the
Tibetan people. These include Jhorkang Temple, a destination
for pilgrims from all over Tibet, the Potala, winter
palace of the Dalai Lama, and Ganden Monastery situated
dramatically on a ridge that overlooks the upper reaches
of the Lhasa Valley.
As we explore the Lhasa Valley, we will travel north
onto the high plateau and Namco Lake, one of Tibet’s
largest lakes situated in a basin at over 15,000 feet.
Here the air is extraordinarily clear, providing extravagant
views of glaciated peaks that encircle the basin. We
will see wild flowers en route, beautiful rose-colored
The TIBETAN Plateau Western Sichuan & Tibet June
14-30, 2009 gentians and on the kora circuit at Namco
lots of saxifrage and others.
Although the Tibet Plateau is quite high, we have arranged
the itinerary so that we will spend most of our time
at moderate elevations. We will sleep in towns where
the elevation is 11,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level.
During the second part of the program, we will travel
in the Tibet Autonomous Region, spending most of our
time around Lhasa (11,700 feet elevation). We anticipate
that group members will be well-acclimatized. Our highest
elevation overall is the pass that leads to Namco at
16,900 feet. Since we will cross the pass briefly in
the course of a day’s travel, we do not anticipate
that this will present any altitude problems, even if
it will most likely set a few personal altitude records.
We sincerely hope that you will be able to join us in
Tibet in 2009! Space is limited, so please let us know
right away.
Brochure
(Requires an Adobe pdf reader to view)
Questions:
Please
call Deborah at Betchart Expeditions Inc.
Telephone
(800) 252-4910 or (408) 252-4910
Fax (408) 252-1444
Email:
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