PANDA TREKKING

The mountains that divide the Sichuan basin and the Tibetan plateau hold the richest temperate ecological habitat on earth. The Min Mountains rise suddenly from the Sichuan basin, with summits topping 5,500 metres, and spread over an area as large as Sri Lanka. Spectacular vistas and natural diversity are matched by ethnic diversity: the isolated valleys have given rise to pockets of ethnic groups with distinct characteristics and cultural expression. This two week journey penetrates hidden valleys where we hike in pristine forest and venture into panda habitat; we also visit peasants’ villages and an opulent Buddhist monastery, and finally we trek up to the summit of a Buddhist holy mountain.

ALTAY DISCOVERY

At the furthest point from any sea, the Altay Mountains straddle four countries – China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Taiga forests, pristine lakes, tumbling rivers and glacier-clad mountains characterise the Altay range, and the culture is equally diverse – Mongolian herders in yurt encampments, Kazakh pastoralists in grassland homesteads, and the legendary Tuwa, an ethnicity who live in rough-cut log shacks in Kanas, one of the world’s largest national parks. You’ll also see much more, including ochre desert mountains, Islamic cemeteries, bald rocky mountains sparkling with minerals, and a freshwater lake set in a basin in the desert, teeming with birds and fish, and large enough to swallow a city.

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SICHUAN FLAVOURS

Sichuan’s impressive diversity is best absorbed during a loop tour starting from its capital Chengdu. It’s a journey that takes in one of the highest mountains in the world, the vastness of the Tibetan plateau, the fog-shrouded peasant villages in subtropical mountains, the outlandish costumes and building styles of the Qiang people, and even a Communist-era coal-town that remains stuck in a time warp. It’s a journey into old China – where Taoism and the culture of tea evolved, and where the cuisine is China’s best – a journey to the true heart of China.

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VULTURES & YAKS

Travel across the collision of continental plates to the heart of Asia, in a journey that stretches along a progression of dramatic landscapes and cultures that make western China a hotspot for cultural and natural evolution. Even now, the modern and the old sit side by side, the contrasts are endless – the mix of cultures includes Han and Qiang and Tibetans and Hui Muslims. The human geography is reflected in the terrain - cloud forests, grasslands, wetlands, and deserts are stacked side by side in a stretch that, as the crow flies, would take less than a day to drive from end to end. Here’s one of the largest peat wetlands in the world, here’s one of the most eminent Buddhist monasteries in the Tibetan spread - here’s where Asia collides and merges.

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