(CN) Fantasy-land reserve protects wildlife

[Guest guest]

China Daily

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2002-11-21/94691.html

 

11/21/2002

 

Don't tell your readers the exact location of Aru Basin, " Drolma Yangzom,

director of the Nature Reserve Management Office of Changtang's forestry

department, told me before our trip to the core areas of the Changtang

National Nature Reserve.

A local newspaper once published a report about Tibetan antelopes ( " chiru "

in Tibetan) and unwittingly revealed the exact location of a breeding ground

of the endangered species.

 

" It guided poachers to that place. Many chirus were killed, " said Drolma.

 

The Aru Basin is located in a core area of the country's largest reserve,

which covers an area of about 298,000 square kilometres. The Tibetan

antelope, a migratory species native to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, gathers

there to mate in November and calve in late June and early July. The herds

sometimes number hundreds of animals.

 

" These days, chirus should be flocking in and around the basin, " said Dawa

Tsering, Tibet Programme co-ordinator of the WWF China Programme Office. " We

will have a good chance to catch a glimpse there of how the animal lives. "

 

Chabu Township

 

Before the trip, Dawa and Drolma co-operated in a four-day training course

in wildlife conservation and management in Gertse County, Ngari Prefecture

in western Tibet in late September.

 

So our three-day journey into the remote core areas of Changtang -

considered a " no man's land " - began at the county seat of Gertse, more than

1,200 kilometres northwest of Lhasa.

 

Besides Dawa, Drolma and myself, our group also included two officers from

the local forestry police.

 

We left the town on the morning of October 1 and headed for Chabu Township,

one of the three townships in northern Gertse that are within the limits of

the reserve's jurisdiction. We were also going to visit a newly completed

patrol station built by the local forestry police.

 

The road was very dirty, bumpy and full of traps.

 

We often drove on the broad and flat range- land. So many different routes

fan out across the plains that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where the

routes meet. Even guided by the experienced officers, the drivers of our two

Toyota Land Cruisers lost their way or each other from time to time.

 

The more dangerous traps were on the routes across dried-up river beds and

lake shores. They often looked dry but turned out to be extremely muddy

underneath.

 

Several times during our trip, one of our jeeps got completely bogged down

while trying to cross a river bed and another had to tow it out with a

cable.

 

" But the road is still in the best condition, " said Gyalla, one of the

officers. " In summer, floods often destroy the road and make the northern

townships inaccessible. "

 

But the ride was not at all intolerable as we found ourselves surrounded and

intoxicated by the startling natural beauty.

 

From time to time, a lake appeared in front of us, turning from a shining

turquoise line into a deep blue sea. A snow-capped mountain bounced out of

the horizon, losing its loftiness as it became a snow-covered slope as we

climbed onto it.

 

The landscape is not empty at all.

 

About one hour's drive from the town of Gertse, we saw a herd of 12 brown

Tibetan wild asses ( " kiang " in Tibetan) grazing in the vast grassland,

about 50 metres from the road.

 

They ran at first but suddenly whirled round to face us, looking not in the

least nervous.

 

Then a dozen Tibetan gazelles leaped through a stretch of meadow. Their

white buttocks were conspicuous under the hard blue sky.

 

On that day, we met hundreds of kiangs and Tibetan gazelles.

 

When we arrived that afternoon at a patrol station, about 260 kilometres

north of the town, however, we saw only a few dozen chirus, mostly adult

females and their female offspring.

 

They seemed to be truly afraid of us human beings. Once they saw our cars,

they started galloping and hardly stopped.

 

The patrol station is a compound with a flat building and a garage near a

lake. The region's forestry department invested 200,000 yuan (US$24,000)

into building the station, said Drolma.

 

With 14.7 million yuan (US$1.78 million) from the central government, she

said, the department will set up seven county-level protection stations and

18 township-level patrol stations within the reserve between this year and

next. " This is one of them, " she said. " It will provide a base for local

rangers to patrol the no man's land. "

 

Gyalla said: " Although no one is posted here right now, we will come back

soon to give the chirus a safe mating season. "

 

Aru Basin

 

We left Chabu for the Aru Basin the next morning.

 

About 20 kilometres from the township seat, we saw a large herd of Tibetan

wild asses returning to the range-land on one side of the road after

drinking water in a lake on the other side.

 

At first, they ran alongside us in several neat lines and tried to overtake

our jeeps and crossed the road in front of them. After our jeeps pulled up,

they merged into three lines, speeding across the road in front of, behind

and between our cars.

 

They finally slowed down in the grassland about 100 metres from the road and

created a single brown line.

 

I got off the jeep and had an intoxicating photo session for over 15

minutes. Back on the road, Dawa told me that there are more than 3,000

kiangs in the area.

 

It turned out to be a good sign. We seemed to be driving in an open-air zoo

for the rest of the day.

 

There were even more Tibetan wild asses and Tibetan gazelles, rabbits,

plateau pikas, Himalayan marmots (or snow pigs), and even a grey Tibetan fox

and two wolves.

 

When we neared the Aru Basin in the afternoon, we saw hundreds of chirus,

including adult males with their beautiful long horns.

 

They were not as cautious as those we found the previous day. During a close

encounter, I even saw their nostrils flaming.

 

At the entrance of the Aru Basin, several golden eagles and chicken-sized

crows were feeding on the dead body of a young chiru. After a quick look,

Gyalla said that it had been killed not by a poacher but a predator.

 

The Aru Basin looks like a land of fantasy. Spectacular snow-capped peaks

frame its western boundary, and barren mountain tops rise and fall in the

east. A line of turquoise blue lakes and lush wetlands stretch in the basin.

 

Chirus in herds are everywhere. Grazing in the grasslands or drinking at the

lake shore, " they are enjoying their best time in a year, " said Dawa.

 

Under the blood-red sunset, we arrived at the camp site of a Sino-Norwegian

expedition nestled in a valley between Arutso Lake and Yubutso Lake to spend

a night there.

 

Headed by Dr Joseph L. Fox, associate professor from the University of

Tromso in Norway, 11 members of the expedition were making a wildlife survey

in the basin.

 

Just returning from a count, the biologist said that he counted more than

1,500 chirus on a slope near Yubutso Lake.

 

" But I saw 12,000 chirus almost in the same place in one day two years ago, "

he said. " They are probably still coming. "

 

That evening, Ingela Flatin, another Norwegian member of the team, said that

they had found 15 families of Tibetan nomads herding in the basin.

 

" The basin is no longer a no man's land, " she said.

 

After a freezing night in the valley at an altitude of more than 5,100

metres above sea level, we got up early and climbed onto the mountain ridge

behind the campsite.

 

There I faced the 6,000-metre snow-covered peaks of the Aru mountain range

and understood why the United States biologist George Schaller called them

" crystal mountains. "

 

I also had an expansive view of the azure Arutso Lake. Lying at the foot of

the mountains like a magnifying glass, it seems to magnify all the beauty

that the mountains offer.

 

Joseph Fox found a wild yak on a slope near the lake. Through his telescope,

I saw only a hairy black dot.

 

" The Aru Basin used to be the best place in Changtang to see wild yaks, " he

said. " This is the first one we saw during our survey. "

 

George Schaller counted more than 2,500 wild yaks there in the 1990s. He

counted fewer than 300 two years ago.

 

Fox added: " But we are still short of evidence to tell why the animals have

declined in number in this area. Probably they have receded to remoter

places. "

 

After the short visit to the Aru Basin, I truly became aware of the

reasonableness and correctness of Drolma's special request before I

travelled with them.