GAOLIGONSHAN YUNNAN BOTANY EXPEDITION 2018

Backside of Gawagebo 5128 m (16,990ft) and unnamed lake, highest peak in Gaoligongshan

NE side of Gawagebo 5128 m (16,990ft) where a herd of 20 Takin were spotted at the base in sunlight at center

We were deep into the northern Gaoligong mountain wilderness of western Yunnan China near the Myanmar border. Raining heavily for the past five days, today had partially cleared revealing the surrounding peaks as we encountered an exhausting descent through steep bamboo and rhododendron slopes forested with fir. We now entered the wild river valley of the Nianwaluo River that empties into the Nu River, one of the three parallel rivers of UNESCO World Heritage Site. We had just come from our high-altitude camp at a pristine lake 4600 meters (15,240 feet) in elevation on the backside of the highest peak in northern Gaoligongshan, Gawagapu in Tibetan or Ga her 嘎普 peak in Mandarin at 5128 meters (16990

feet). Having passed through head high perennials that included peonies, larkspur and lilies at the edge of the river, it was now late afternoon. We made camp in the shadow of Gawagebo with northwest facing glaciers spawning myriads of waterfalls thundering along its granitic expanse of cliffs.

Our head porter was Li Shua Wa who originated from the Dulong River to the west that forms the western boundary of Gaoligongshan. Sitting next to his basket pack with tumpline, he looked at me and pointed across the Nianwaluo River to the base of one the cliffs filled with braided and long cascading waterfalls. In a patch of willow and young bamboo on a steep slope at its base, he had spotted a group of twenty Takin, a rare and large goat-like bovid that looked like a cross between a muskoxen and wildebeest. I couldn’t see them until I grabbed my binoculars, then finally saw several large mammals, quickly identified as a female takin with a calf, and a young adult. Budorcas taxicolor is a large goat-antelope that is rarely seen here, and protected as an endangered species in China and listed vulnerable with IUCN. The adult had a long face and roman nose with musk oxen-like sweeping, tightly curved horns, and its large body covered with long golden fur covering the shoulders and back turning dark brown on the rump. The young calf was frolicking around on the steep slope. Heavily hunted in the past, this sighting was a gift as we were on a botanical expedition. We had seen very few small mammals and a variety of songbirds, but we rewarded with spectacular displays of rhododendrons and primulas. This difficult cross-country expedition navigating vertical terrain had been organized by Adrian Bottomley of Whistling Arrow, a unique travel company based in Hong Kong.

Takin Budorcas taxicolor is a large goat-antelope related to Bighorn sheep in the Pac NW that is rarely seen PHOTO E-mammal camera trap, Xi zhinong.

We were here because of Gaoligong is known for its tremendous plant and animal diversity. But that diversity is threatened since mammals and pheasants in Yunnan China have been hunted and trapped by Lisu, Nu and Dulong hilltribes for centuries, and are rarely seen except in remote refuges where the forest habitat is protected and hunting is somewhat reduced. The multiple reserves along the diverse Gaoligong mountains still provide habitat for both the Himalayan black bear and sun bear, sambar, lynx, musk deer, goral, tufted deer, the red panda, snow monkeys, and the hoolock gibbon. In the past the lowlands supported a population of serow, gaur or what is called Nu buffalo, tiger, and the extirpated Sumatran Rhino, along with many other mammal species are now locally extinct. There are over 10 species of pheasants including the Mrs. Hume's, Kalij silver pheasant, satyr tragopan, and the scalar monal, a beautiful but now rare alpine pheasant with iridescent feathers of green, maroon, purple and red coloration. We were here to explore and observe the tremendous diversity of flowering

Himalayan blackbear, tufted deer, red goral, Indian muntjac photos taken from Nepal and Assam

Satyr tragophan, Scalers Monal both in the pheasant family top, vernal parrot, red tailed laughing thrush, Baihaling Gaoligong.

plants and were not disappointed having seen almost 30 species of flowering rhododendrons and varieties of primulas, orchids, and tree species. The Lisu and Nu porters cleared the head high herbs and flowers with their long knives, making space for our tents and the main shelter for our camp. It was a rare partly cloudy day without rain, and we were into the sixth day of our expedition now at base of Mt Gawagapu. It had rained heavily for 5 days breaking only this morning, and fortunate to see the mountains surrounding mountains above us. We were retracing a part of Joseph Rock’s 1923 expedition across Yunnan’s “3 Parallel Rivers” region that included the Nu River at the edge of Gaoligongshan, the Mekong and the Yangtze. These rivers flow south within deep gorges of north-south mountain ranges at the eastern edge of the Himalayas known as the Hengduan mountains of western Yunnan China. An amateur botanist and opera expert who usually carried a phonograph on his expeditions, Rock documented many of the over 350 species of

rhododendrons known to Yunnan, and had photographed several of his trips for National Geographic Magazine. He recorded how rugged the mountains were, and explored the remote northern section below Mt Gawagapu where we were, which required several days of cross country and steep ascent. Early plant hunters, such as the Scottish botanist George Forrest and British Frank Kingdon-Ward also explored parts of the Gaoligong Shan in the early 1900’s and reported its extraordinary richness for rhododendrons and other garden-worthy plants. Ward had described a terrifying path along the northern route to the foot of Mt. Gawagapu, the same route and

remote valley we were descending that he had ascended a century earlier. He called the ascent along the Nianwaluo River the “Path of Terror” and in his 1924 book From China to Hkamti Long, Ward wrote: “The path climbed giddily. We balanced on crazy logs or descended the face of the cliff, clinging for dear life to roots and rocks.” He visited the Nu Jiang three times in 1911, 1913, and in 1922 and enjoyed the people and culture of Twaragong above the Nu jiang Canyon. The British explorer Ward described his 1913 collecting expedition in Yunnan and Tibet in his

Frank Kindgon Wards book ‘Burma’s Ice mountains, Yunnan expedition crossing a river with mules

1923 book The Mystery Rivers of Tibet, and continued his exploration there in 25 subsequent expeditions over a span of 50 years. He survived many accidents including being impaled on a bamboo spike, falling off a cliff (stopped by a tree growing from the cliff), lost for two days with no food, tent crushed by a tree in a storm, and he was close to the epicenter of an earthquake (registering 9.6 on the Richter magnitude scale) while with his wife on 15 August 1950 during an expedition in Assam. His most famous and successful expedition from 1924-25 was to Southeast Tibet where he explored the great river Yarlong Tsangpo where it descends through the mysterious and inaccessible Tsangpo Gorge, the deepest canyon in the world. The Tsangpo

River originates from the Tibetan plateau near Lhasa at an altitude of 3622 m (12,000 feet) and flows east, then turns south where it penetrates through the Himalayas and descends into the Assam Valley becoming the Brahmaputra river at a 300m (1,000 feet) above sea level. This is a dramatic elevation drop. Until Kingdon-Ward's survey, The Tsangpo canyon was a great mystery within its mid-section between the precipitous high peaks of the eastern Himalayas of Namcha Barwha 7782 m (25531 feet) and Gyalha Peri 7294 m (23930 feet). He did not solve the question "the great romance of geography” of the presence of a rumored Falls of Brahmaputra, a story, which, over the years, became the area legend of ‘Shangri-La’. The gorge itself remained unexplored until

finally an American kayaking expedition in 2002 and managed to penetrate its mysterious canyon and portage around the falls. Although Ward never completely solved the mystery of the Tsangpo Canyon, he collected a large number of plant specimens for identification and introduced the beautiful blue poppy Meconopsis baileyi to English gardens.

The story of the earlier Scottish explorer George Forrest is even more amazing. He launched his first expedition in 1905 to the northwest corner of Yunnan near the border with Tibet. He and his team of 17 local collectors stayed briefly at the French mission under Père Dubernard, a Catholic missionary priest who also was an amateur botanist in the small town of Tzekou. The region was rich with unknown species of all descriptions and returning from his collection expedition, was unaware of the turmoil surrounding the mission. The Qing Dynasty government allowed Christian

George Forrest with with Père Dubernard French Catholic missiionary, Expedition into Yunnan Mountains missionaries into Tibetan Buddhist areas in Yunnan province. The Tibetan Lamas had long defied the rule of the Qing authorities and officials, and the Qing dynasty fought against a rebellion of the Lamas around 1905. Tibetan Buddhist Lamas attacked were torturing and killing all Chinese officials, French Roman Catholic priests, local people who were perceived to have had contact with foreigners, and Christian converts in the area, all in retaliation for the missionaries’ success their help and conversion of the mountain people. The Buddhist Gelug (Yellow) Sect was primarily responsible for the revolt and deaths. Forrest barely escaped with his life, travelling by night and hiding by day, enduring near starvation while dodging hunting parties scouring the countryside for victims. He was the only survivor of his team.

The local indigenous people, the Lisu, saved Forrest by giving him shelter, then helped him out of the region by disguising him as a Tibetan. The escape was very difficult crossing high mountain passes, then descending through dense jungle, but he eventually made it back to the relative safety of Talifu. The Chinese government intervened and he returned again within several years to explore the upper the Salween district (Nu River) to continue collecting. He spent two months in the wilderness travelling from tropical microclimates to high mountain ridges and endured both tropical jungles collecting, and navigated sheer cliffs and rickety bridges across deep gorges to find plants. Returning again to Yunnan he was able to return to Britain in late 1906 with a volume of seeds, roots, tubers and plants, along with his herbarium specimens. He returned six more times on different expeditions, ranging as far afield as upper Burma, eastern Tibet and Sichuan province. His contributions to the study of natural history in western China were immense as he had discovered over 1200 plants species new to science, as well as many birds and mammals. I shared his desire to be a well-rounded naturalist with an interest in all disciplines.

The remoteness and difficult terrain of Western Yunnan has not only made its exploration and description difficult, but has served to protect a rich regional biodiversity from destruction and exploitation. The deep river valleys and dividing mountain ranges are steep and difficult to access

The east-west Himalayan mountain chain to the far east becomes the Hengduan Mountains that change direction with a North-South orientation that includes Gaoligong lower right center.

until recently with newly built roads funded by the Chinese government. With the influx of people moving to expanding towns, Western Yunnan including the Meili mountain range and especially Gaoligong has continued to remain as a vast refugium of extraordinarily rich biodiversity. The mountain ranges encompass life zones that vary from warm subtropical evergreen forests to arctic conditions of peaks and glaciers over 6,000 m (19,880 feet, almost as high as Mt McKinley in North America). The topography of Yunnan is dominated by the eastern

Three parallel rivers area (in box) with Salween, Mekong and Yangtze Rivers within flowing into different oceans.

extension of the Himalayan Mountains, the Hengduan Shan that change direction and contour from east west to form of a series of north–south mountain ranges separated by deeply incised three great parallel rivers: the Yangtze (Jinsha Jiang), the Mekong (Lancang Jiang) and the Salween (Nu Jiang). All three originate far to the north on the Tibetan plateau in Qinghai Province in Sanjiangyuan National Park: 三江源, but reach the sea thousands of miles apart, in

eastern China, Vietnam, and further west in Burma, respectively. These three rivers effectively separate lowlands in northern Myanmar from the lowlands of the Sichuan Basin and are recognized today as the Three Parallel Rivers UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Gaoligong Mountain Range 高黎贡山 is the more remote mountainous sub-range of the

Hengduan mountains in the western Yunnan highlands straddling the border between southwestern China and northern Myanmar (Burma). The range is approximately 585 km (351 miles) long and is bounded east by the Nu Jiang, the least-visited by westerners, and west by the Dulong River which straddles the Burmese border on the west side of the range, becoming the Irrawaddy in Myanmar. The more remote northern part of the Gaoligong shan is 30 km (18 miles) wide while the southern extension of the mountains is only 9 km (5.4 miles) wide, the latter area dominated by the threat of expanding agriculture. The north south alignment of the three-parallel river mountain ranges allows the Indian and SE Asian monsoons to move north deep into the temperate Tibetan plateau, giving abundant moisture, warm temperatures and elevation relief that together create the greatest known temperate and subtropical diversity known on earth. The low elevations of the Mekong, Yangtze and Nu penetrate north with subtropical vegetation into the colder Tibetan mountains, while the high elevations of the ridges and peaks separating these same rivers bring temperate plant diversity into subtropical forests. This area is an amazing mix of speciation for plants,

invertebrates and vertebrates. For example, there are over 226 species of rhododendrons, 100 species of gentians, 216 species of pedicularis, and 113 species of primulas in alpine and montane forest elevations. Pollinators such as bumble bees that pollinate these flowers also have the greatest diversity of 65 species known in the world. Plant diversity is thought to be greatest in tropical rainforests. For example, Kalimantan on the Equatorial part of Borneo has 11,000 to 15,000 species, but in temperate to subtropical forests in the Hengduan Mountains in SW China may have over 10,000 species.

Rhododendrons blooming during the wet and rainy spring weather

Rhododendron sanguinum, R spp, and giant lily

Yunnan is situated at the meeting point of three geographic regions: the eastern Asia monsoon, the Tibetan plateau, and the tropical monsoon region of southern Asia and Indo-China, each

Primula sp, carpenter bee, Rhododendron wardii with major differences. The province’s elevation is higher in the northwest, with its highest point at the summit of Kagebo peak 6740 m (22,329 feet) of Meili Snow Mountain, while the landscape gradually decreases in elevation to the south and west. Because of the ‘synergistic effect’ of latitude horizon change as well as with vertical zonation change, the province holds all climate zones and land ecosystem types that can be found from Hainan Island, the most southern part of China, to Mohe in Heilongjiang, the most northern part of China. In Western Yunnan the north-south Hengduan Mountain Range provides the cold-enduring animal and plant species in the center of the Tibetan plateau to penetrate south, forming the cold-enduring plateau biogeocoenosis in the region. This is the lowest latitude where representatives of the Palaearctic and Holarctic ecosystems may be found in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus, the shift to the south of the north–south boundary line of wildlife makes the province a region with both Palaearctic and Oriental realms. The tree line within found in these steep mountain ranges is the highest in the world.

Southern Yunnan adjoining the tropical low-height mountains of Indo-China, forms a main access way for southeastern Asia’s tropical animals and plants north to China. The southwestern part in the southern sector of Gaoligong Mountain is exposed to the tropical ocean flow coming from the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean. It is the typical region where the Indian tropical biota converges in China. In contrast the rivers flowing from the Tibetan plateau south past the three parallel rivers area fan out to the south, the east and the southwest, forming a ‘broom-like’ shape. The running direction and the location of the mouth of the rivers are beneficial to various species entering the watershed along the valley creating a complicated watershed biogeocoenosium in China. Reflecting the biodiversity of Yunnan, the Gaoligong Mountain abounds in rare animals and plants and is the largest reserve in Yunnan, with a total area of 4052 km2 (1562 miles2 ). The Gaoligong range is long and narrow running south-to-north, higher in the north and lower in the south, with a relative height difference of more than 2,827 meters (9365 feet). The highest peak, Gawagebo is 5128 meters (16990 feet) and to the east lies the Great Nujiang Canyon ranking second of its kind in the world and the southern part of the range is surrounded by scores of volcanoes, and rich in geothermal hot springs. Agriculture and firewood harvesting are decimating the southern section at a faster pace than the northern, even though protected. The climate is cool and dry from November to April, and warm and wet between May and October. The uniqueness of the region is that the climatic condition allows a complete

transition from temperate to tropical forest that is rare in the world. And we were here in the wet season, at the peak of floral display in the mountains. This region has the highest tree-line (also called timberline where trees no longer grow and form alpine meadows above in elevation) in the world at 4600 meters (15,240 feet). The true fir Abies spp can be at that elevation on NE facing slopes in contrast to the drier SW facing slopes dominated by willows, perennials, and low growing rhododendrons. In my home in the Washington State Cascade mountains it is closer to 1800 meters (6000 feet).

Wanting to explore more of Yunnan with its amazing plant biodiversity I had explored in October 2017 with Songtsam staff, I returned again in spring with the goal to document the floral gardens of this most biodiverse area of temperate forest in the world. The first two weeks would be with Whistling Arrow exploring deep into the range surrounding Gawagapu. From Bingzhongluo on the Nu River, we would ascend a remote valley of the Gema Luohe River and use a primitive trail used by yak herders into the mountains. We began above the village of Quikedang near Bingzhongluo, a small settlement which would provide the bulk of our guides and porters. Once we reached the head of the valley we would cross several passes to the northwestern slope of Gawagapu onto a vast ridge of meadows with an alpine lake seen by few except the most intrepid local hunter-gatherers. We would then complete a loop that would take us back down the steep bamboo and fir cliffs to the Nianwaluo River at the base of Gawagkapo where we would be immersed in a beautiful old growth forest and canyon. This route followed by Ward in 1924 has changed little with a challenging access along a hunter’s trail that follows the river until it discharges upstream of the Nu River at its famous canyon near Sigi Tong.

Upper Nu (Salween) jiang or River, one of the three Parallel Rivers within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yunnan province, China.that include the Lacang jiang (Mekong), and Jinsha (Yangtze) jiang Rivers.