ecbp diary-a trip to xinjiang

Biodiversity Diary a trip to Xinjiang — John MacKinnon

P A G E 2

B I O D I V E R S I T Y D I A R Y

Sand mountain

Complex strata of Pamirs

Bogeda Mountain

Wind farms

Moon Bay, Kanas River

Roadside camels

Xinjiang – China’s Wild West The flight to Xinjiang is long, and one passes over seemingly endless deserts and mountain ranges. Finally the eastern extension of the snow-topped Tianshan range with its pinnacle peak of Bogeda (5,445 m) warns that we are nearing our destination. The plane flits through a gap in the mountain chain to level out on the northern side of the range and finally lands on the dusty runway of Urumqi airport. I am excited to reach a new part of the world but somewhat saddened by my first impressions. There are mist nets beside the runways to protect planes from birds. Some tens of sad innocents are slowly dying in tangled knots of the un-tended nets.

P A G E 3

With my Canadian partner World Heritage expert James Thorsell, I am on a flying visit to review several alpine lakes with a view to defining a World heritage nomina-tion. The province is quiet after the riots of July and there is still a block on internet communication but we get VIP treatment and are whisked between fantastic ban-quets to see some of the most beautiful spots in this huge frontier province.

ECBP has three projects working in Xinji-ang – a wetlands project to protect the peatlands in Altay mountains region, a broader project on governance case studies and an agro-biodiversity project with pro-ject sites in the oasis of Kashgar and in Al-tay lowlands.

Biodiversity Diary

ECBP Newsletter Supplements October 7 – 18, 2009

Children wait in the market

Sheep and Kashmir goats

P A G E 4

A land of mountains, rivers, grasslands and glaciers

First stop is the Heavenly lake of Tianshan, sparkling and clear in the late autumn cool. We are treated to entertainment on a gaudy houseboat that looks rather out of place on the otherwise tranquil blue of the lake. Uy-gur girls perform traditional dances and on all sides the mountains rise to the clear blue sky. I would like to explore but we have a tight schedule.

Next stop the flight across the Junggar desert to Al-tay, more dead birds in nets, and a drive north through the arid foothills. We stop to photograph herds of camels and goats then head on through in-creasingly green woods and forests towards the de-

servedly famous beauty spot of Kanas Lake. A photo stop at the Moon Bay bend in the deep blue river is a must on the itinerary.

We stay is style in a new government guest house across the pretty Kanas river from the shabby village of the Tuwa eth-nic minority. These are a small group of Mongolian origins who graze cattle and horses in the hills in summer but had


Tianchi stream

tumbles down hill

Glaciers of the Tianshan

Tianshan at dusk

Tianchi Lake-

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brought their herds down to the valley for the winter. We are treated to butter tea and strange music played on a reed nose-flute. We take an-other boat trip, horse-riding and walks through the forests. We were told it was more beautiful a week earlier when the leaves were golden but it was still magnificent and I wanted to spend more time in these interesting woods. I felt al-

most back in Europe with house sparrows, robins, red squirrels and grey –headed-

woodpeckers. In the mountains we hear snow-cocks calling and see an eagle cir-cling high overhead.

At the head of the lake there is a long gla-cier and over the crest lie the northern slopes of Altay in Mongolia and Russia. This whole area could form a magnificent three country transfrontier protected area.

White Peduncularis

The melting of glac iers wi ll reduce w ater supplies for many communities

Red squirrel

Autumn tints

Kanas Lake in autumn

Tranquil lake

Kanas river scene

Boating on Kanas

Glacier fed stream

Tuwa village

P A G E 6

Of lakes and mountains To the west a fourth party could be added for the Altay mountains extend into Kazakstan.

South of Kashgar we drove through stunning red moun-tains, past snow capped mountains made of sand reflected in tranquil waters. We saw herds of Yaks side by side with

camels and the ubiquitous little white Kash-mir goats that make money for their owners but continue to destroy the fragile vegetation of these arid regions.

The size of the province became more appar-ent when we flew west to visit the great lake of Sayaram where we feasted in a large Mon-golian yurt, enjoyed the singing of local ladies


A T R I P T O X I N J I A N G

Willow flowers by river

Flock of geese at Sayaram

Whooper swans resting by river Mute swans on Sayaram

Red squirrel with cone

Grey-headed woodpecker

Legacies of Mongolian past P A G E 7 B I O D I V E R S I T Y D I A R Y

and were surprised to be offered roast turkey on Canadian thanksgiving day ! Out on the lake a cold wind made small waves and flocks of mute swans bobbed on the surface among hundreds of ducks and wild geese. In summer the grasslands around the lake as a mass of flowers and large numbers of cattle and horses and grazed.

Close to the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan we visited our final lakes under the great spiraling dome of glaciers known as Muztagata (7509 m). Pin-tail ducks and brown-

headed gulls rested around the lakes. A pair of grey herons shifted lazily to the far bank and flocks of alpine choughs rode the thermals with shrill cries. Up in the hills live tahr and argali and reportedly elusive snow leopards though local herdsmen take their domestic goats to even the remotest pastures and I wonder how many of the native ungulates still survive in this wild frontier land.

Mute swans on Sayaram Lake

Sayaram Lake

Cute culprits of degradation

Home of the camels

Pied wagtail

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Yaks and glaciers Xinjiang is larger than most Euro-pean countries and contains China’s largest and most varied forms of de-sert types – sandy, stony, high alti-tude. It is also traversed by several of the world’s great mountain ranges – Altay, Tianshan, Kunlun and Pamir/Karakoram. It forms the historical link between China, India and the Mediterranean countries. It has a wealth of natural and cultural heri-

tage. It certainly merits recognition on the list of world heritage sites and we were happy to be invited to share some of these wonders and advise the local government on how to bet-ter protect and promote their sites.

Konghur

shan rises

7649m—

one of the

highest

peaks in

China.


Pintail ducks

Glaciers creep down from the icefields

Alpine chough

Where Pamirs meet the Kunlun P A G E 9 B I O D I V E R S I T Y D I A R Y

Yaks graze in the wide mountain landscape

Brown-headed gull

Muztagata’s glaciated head shines

beyond the twinkling Kalakule

Lake

P A G E 1 0

Cultural riches In the markets of Kashgar and the depression of the Turpan ba-sin we were introduced to much of the mixed culture of the re-gion – desert oases, ancient trade routes, grapes and wine-making, strange wells and un-derground water systems, mosques and history. Uygur men make brassware for the ba-zaar. All a contrast to modern highways and wind farms spreading across the province.

Thin green

lines of

poplar

form west-

ern ram-

parts of

the great

green wall.


Honesuckle seeds

Rich harvest

Camel to ride

The smell of sweet fruits P A G E 1 1 B I O D I V E R S I T Y D I A R Y

Melons and melons

Pomegranites

Grapes for wines and raisins

EU-China Biodiversity Programme Add: Rm. 503, International Conven-tions Building, No.5 Houyingfang Hutong, Xicheng District, Beijing. 100035, P.R. China Fax: (+8610) 8220 5421 Email: [email protected]

ecbp diary-a trip to xinjiang

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