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Tag: China

Triple K “expedition” (#36 in teaser series: en route to the third “K”)

Published July 5, 2024 by Pelidoug

Triple K “expedition” (#36 in teaser series: en route to the third “K”)

 

 

On 24 May 2024 we travelled from Tashkurgan (China’s westernmost substantial town) to Kashgar, aka “Kashi”.

For many centuries Kashgar – the third of our “expedition”’s three Ks – was a major hub on “The Silk Road”.

In the direction we drove, our route was the Karakoram Highway’s final 291 kilometres.

The Chinese section’s landscapes are generally less “vertiginous, on both sides” than are those along the Highway’s actually-Karakoram, Pakistan section.

From Tashkurgan through to Kashgar, vistas tend to be much wider, more likely to be rimmed by mountains rather than absolutely dominated by them.

Big mountains and glaciers are still abundant.

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“From behind” (final episode in series: shared delight, Tibetan Plateau)

Published June 1, 2023 by Pelidoug

“From behind” (final episode in series: shared delight, Tibetan Plateau)

 

I loved the little moment which the image captures.

Had I been in front of the mother and daughter  – and thereby made my presence intrusive – the moment simply would not have happened…at that moment, at least.

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Three of the same (#9 in series: Goa, aka Tibetan Gazelles)

Published May 1, 2023 by Pelidoug

Three of the same (#9 in series: Goa, aka Tibetan Gazelles)

 

This post’s Tibetan Plateau location is higher and wilder than was true of #8 in this series.

The Chang Tang – also rendered into English as “Changtang” – is a very harsh environment, mostly grasslands at more than 4,000 metres above sea level, punctuated by mountains.

Much of it is protected in one of the world’s largest national parks, but climate change’s impact – here, mostly negative – is proving particularly extreme, rapid.

Goa – or Tibetan Gazelle – live here in still-considerable, but declining numbers.

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Three of the same (#8 in series: Himalayan Griffon Vultures)

Published April 30, 2023 by Pelidoug

Three of the same (#8 in series: Himalayan Griffon Vultures)

 

 

 

Dead yaks reputedly provide rather more than half of the food eaten by Gyps himalayensis, but many members of Homo sapiens have also been devoured.

“Live” humans, fear not!

These very large raptors are scavengers, not hunters.

For countless human generations – via so-called “Tibetan Sky Burials”, in which religious rites are meticulously conducted, but the recently-deceased are not buried – Himalayan Griffon Vultures have done high-altitude humans a valuable service.

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Moving Day (chez Mountain Weasel)

Published December 29, 2021 by Pelidoug

Moving Day (chez Mountain Weasel)

Meet Mustela altai.

Asia’s Mountain Weasel, or Altai Weasel is an absolute carnivore whose preferred habitat is 3,500 metres+ above sea level.

On October 12, 2019 my beloved and I had an uncommonly close encounter with one, on his or her “moving day”.

This occurred in a very pleasant valley, just off and below the Tibetan Plateau proper, but – at circa 3, 800 metres – still within this species’ allegedly-preferred altitude range.

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Living on a high, dry “floor” (#4 in “Tibetan Plateau” series)

Published January 23, 2021 by Pelidoug

Living on a high, dry “floor” (#4 in “Tibetan Plateau” series)

The featured bird is very tiny, very hardy.

“His” valley’s sparsely vegetated floor – the “low ground”, locally – all sits within 200 metres either side of 4000 metres above sea level.

If transplanted to the Tibetan Plateau, New Zealand’s highest peak would fail to reach this valley’s lowest point.

 

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October Song (#86 in “a shining moment” series)

Published October 28, 2020 by Pelidoug

October Song (#86 in “a shining moment” series)

I took the photo on a glorious autumn morning almost exactly one year ago – 10.26 am, 29 October 2019, Labahe, Sichuan, China.

In Scotland, more than half a century earlier, Robin Williamson wrote my favourite autumn song.

Allegedly, October Song was the first song he ever wrote, as a teenager.

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Wild asses: #4 in “western India” series/ #2 in “Tibetan Plateau” series

Published October 24, 2020 by Pelidoug

Wild asses: #4 in “western India” series/ #2 in “Tibetan Plateau” series

Asia’s wild asses are different from Africa’s, and larger too.

All but one kind are generally reckoned subspecies of Equus hemionus, the Asiatic wild ass or onager.

Pictured above and below is the khur or Indian wild ass, Equus hemionus khur.

Once widespread, in large numbers, khur now only number several thousand individuals, most of them in the Little Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, western India.

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