Call of the wild

By Victor Paul Borg (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-28 10:02

"We are already seeing positive results," says Chen Hongjiang, director of Altay Tourism Administration. "Swans have now returned to Kanas Lake and other ponds in the buffer zone, and other rare animals have also returned to the buffer zone." In particular, he names brown bears, snow leopards, snow owls, red deer and pheasants. But he adds: "Overall, key species are still decreasing due to general habitat degradation."

One mammoth task has already been completed: The old hotels built near Kanas Lake's shore were dismantled and rebuilt 18 km south in Jiadengyu three years ago at a cost $1 billion. The aim is for tourists to stay in Jiadengyu, where the environmental impact can be contained more easily.

Jiadengyu is as far as visitors can go in their private vehicles and tour buses. From Jiadengyu, visitors have to board the buses that run on clean fuel inside the park: These buses shuttle along the road that connects Kanas Lake, the Fish Viewing Pavilion (offering great views from the 2,200-m peak above the lake), and Hai Baba, the smallest Tuwa village. Tourists can hop on and off along the route to explore.

Another option is to lodge in guesthouses appended to Tuwa homes in one of the three Tuwa villages. Only Tuwa inhabitants are allowed to have lodgings or restaurants in the park. Accommodations in the Tuwa villages are still rugged. (The government is currently aiding them to upgrade their rooms.) But that's a small trade-off for the ambience and proximity to some of the best landscapes in the park.

Get up early, and go walking along the 5-km boardwalk that skirts the shore of Kanas Lake and you'll be rewarded with a lovely view of dawn light - the azure permeates the glassy calm of the lake, and the white light seeps along the horizon.

In the afternoon, strike out to the grassland called Dongxi Nieke, just 5 km away, where Nasturtium flowers scent the air and color the ground bright orange. Or find a Tuwa horseman and head up the mountains to the Black Lake.

We did each of those forays, and then eventually went to Hemu - which is almost 50 km away from Kanas Lake along a roundabout road. The village is set along the fast-flowing Hemu River, on a plain hemmed by mountains densely forested with poplar trees. The houses are all set in enclosures of log fences, and constructed of unpolished logs (the seams between logs are filled with mud and moss).

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