Trek 2

We left for Rilong early in the morning on July 12th in Jeep like vehicles. The drive was supposed to take six hours, but the trend on this trip so far has been to add a few hours to any drive time. After leaving the smoggy city life we were surrounded by huge lush green mountains! Due to the earthquake in 2008, a lot of the road is not well maintained and our driver had us looking out for falling rocks and landslides as he focused on the road. Along the way we saw many Pacific Swift flying around the mountain slopes in the misty haze.We stayed at a small hostel in Rilong and felt the difference in elevation as we became winded just from walking up the stairs to our rooms. Due to being at such altitude, we all had to purchase some warmer gear before we hiked out in the morning.

It took us about five hour to hike through ankle deep mud to our first campsite. We were originally going to camp by the river, but due to so many Japanese tourists, we had to take a different campsite. There was a small stone house there which our Tibetan guides used to cook and sleep in. One of the young men was actually born in that house!

We spent three nights at this campsite adjusting to the altitude.

Here we saw a variety of birds including a few different species of Rose Finch, Spotbreasted babler, Himalayan swiftlet, Russet sparrow, and Himalayan griffon. We gave our group presentations on different primary papers regarding Giant Panda conservation. My group presented a behavioral study comparing mating behaviors in captive Giant Pandas during non-mating and mating seasons as well as in small individual cages vs. larger playpen enclosures. Other groups presented on topics such as the effect of fuel wood harvest on GP habitat, the variation in microhabitat between Giant and Red pandas and a review on habitat fragmentation and possible implementation of wildlife corridors for GP habitat. We took our second quiz at this campsite. I also built a rock tower and got a few other people to start making rock art with me!

The hike to our next campsite was shorter, but practically vertical; taking us to an elevation around 15,000 feet! We only spent one night here, but it was pretty great to spend the night above the tree line.

Here we had a lecture on wildlife trade, which makes me wonder about the origins of my corn snake and leopard gecko back at home.

Waking up literally inside of a cloud provided to difficulty seeing the trail as we descended the mountain. This hike was straight down the side of a very steep mountain full of slippery mud until we reached the tree line where we then walking in thick, sticky mud. It was a lot of fun hiking through this area. We beat the horses to our next campsite, so we warmed by the fire in a local family’s stone home and ended up camping in their backyard. The next day was the first warm and sunny day of the trek, so as we hiked to our final campsite we were all taking advantage of the sun! This hike took us into the Four Sisters Park, which was absolutely amazing! Every time I looked up I was surrounded by snow-capped mountains and green lush slopes. It is almost painful how beautiful this area was. We spent two nights at this amazing campsite where we did an aquatic survey and a vegetation survey. In the aquatic survey, we found mayfly larvae, caddisfly larvae and a few other freshwater invertebrates. Our campsite was surrounded by grazing Yaks and horses along with a few very young and adorable yaks and horses.

The hike back to Rilong was almost five hours and I was reluctant to leave such natural beauty. Yesterday morning we had a jeep ride to Yaan, which is where I am until tomorrow morning. This is the nicest hotel we have stayed at the whole trip, there are western toilets, shampoo and towels! Oh how camping makes the appreciation for modern commodities much fonder. Yesterday afternoon in the hotel lobby we had our third quiz and this morning we had a lecture on Gibbons in China. Tomorrow we leave for the Befanxia Panda Concervation Center where we will be volunteering for the next nine days. Since it is expensive to enter and leave the reserve that the Panda Center is located in we have to stock up on food before we head there.

Hopefully while at Befanxia I will be able to conduct a few interviews with local community members which I will use in my final paper about community approach to Giant Panda habitat conservation efforts. The internet situation there is still unknown, so it could be another long stretch until the next post.

Panda fact of the post:

-Giant Pandas have evolved from carnivory to herbivory, but kept the prior digestive system (meaning they cannot digest cellulose). This means that they have to eat for at least 14 hours a day in order to recieve enough nutrients from their food.