Zoige Grassland (Huahu Lake · First Bend of the Yellow River)
The heart of the northwestern Sichuan plateau wetlands: Huahu Lake is the flagship lake area of the Zoige Wetlands, China's largest high-altitude peat swamp wetland; in lush seasons the lake surface is carpeted with sedge, where black-necked cranes and ruddy shelducks dwell
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 08:00-18:00
- Ticket
- Huahu Lake CNY 75 / First Bend CNY 65
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
The heart of the northwestern Sichuan plateau wetlands: Huahu Lake is the flagship lake area of the Zoige Wetlands, China's largest high-altitude peat swamp wetland; in lush seasons the lake surface is carpeted with sedge, where black-necked cranes and ruddy shelducks dwell. The First Bend of the Yellow River's nine bends lies in Tangke Town, Zoige, where the river, arriving from Qinghai and Gansu, turns back eastward; watching the sunset over the nine bends from the viewing platform beside Suokezang Monastery is a classic shot. Langmusi Town on the Gansu–Sichuan border straddles two provinces, with its monasteries split between two schools, forming the grassland segment of the Greater Jiuzhaigou loop.
Getting there: self-drive (approx. 200 km)
Photos
More in Jiuzhaigou
- Jiuzhaigou Valley Scenic Area
A Y-shaped valley in the southern Minshan Mountains, made up of Shuzheng Valley, Rize Valley and Zechawa Valley; named after the nine Tibetan villages inside, it was inscribed as a World Natural Heritage Site together with Huanglong in 1992
- Shuzheng Valley
The first valley of Jiuzhaigou, running from the valley entrance to Nuorilang Waterfall: the Shuzheng Lakes are twenty to thirty lakes big and small linked in tiers, trees grow thickly on the travertine dikes, and water mills and prayer-wheel houses stand along the stream — a living display of Tibetan water-mill culture within a natural landscape
- Rize Valley
The essence of the whole valley: Five Flower Lake shows peacock-feather-like iridescent colors thanks to the spectral differences of lakebed travertine, algae and sunken wood, and is called "the essence of Jiuzhaigou"
- Zechawa Valley
The longest and highest-altitude valley in Jiuzhaigou: Long Lake at its end is Jiuzhaigou's largest lake, fed by snowmelt with no outlet — "never full, never dry" — and revered by Tibetans as a holy lake
- Zharu Temple
The largest and only Tibetan Bon religion monastery in Jiuzhaigou, sitting beneath Baojing Rock (Treasure Mirror Rock) at the mouth of Zharu Valley; said to date from the Ming Dynasty, it has been the faith center of the valley's nine Tibetan villages through the ages
- Tibetan Villages (Shuzheng Village and others)
Villages of the indigenous Tibetans inside Jiuzhaigou — the park's name, 'Valley of Nine Villages,' comes from the nine villages in the valley