!!!Huanglong

by Stas Sedov and
Dmitry Moiseenko,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

13 August 2015

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

China can be proud of many remarkable natural sights, one cannot help
admiring the view of fantastic shapes of the landscape and bright magic
colours. Moreover, many of these places have rather poetic names: for
example, in the Valley of Nine Fortified Villages one can find the Pearl
Shoal and Sleeping Dragon Lake, and in the eastern part of the country
Thousand Island Lake is situated... Well, AirPano team is not good at
poetry. But we will try to describe the beauty of one more natural
monument of China in our usual panoramic format: this time it will be
the reserved area of Huanglong situated in the northwest part of
Sichuan. The name can be translated as ‘Yellow Dragon' due to travertine
terraces having several kilometers in length (sometimes they can be
referred as cascades) and shimmering gold in the rays of the sun. All
these features make it look like a sleeping mythological creature.

[{Image src='01_Multi-Colored Pond.jpg' caption='Multi-Colored Pond' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='561'}]

Huanglong consists of numerous unique landscapes of travertine
landforms: lakes, waterfalls, springs, rapids, steps, karst caves and
tiny decorative gardens "Bonsai". Going down in cascades, terraces form
eight groups of lakes: the biggest ones have the area of several hundred
sq kilometers, the smallest ones can be only of the size of a plate. The
largest group named Multicoloured Pond and consisting of 693 pools is
situated at the height of around 3,500 meters.

[{Image src='02_Zheng Yan (Beauty-Competing) Pond.jpg' caption='Zheng Yan (Beauty-Competing) Pond' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='604'}]

The flowing down water is actually transparent, but it contains calcium
carbonate in large quantities which add shades of gold to the limestone
banks. Seaweed, in its turn, creates the shades of turquoise, some other
formations create darker colours. Cascades are surrounded by thick
woods, that's why in autumn, at the time when the trees turn bright
colours, this place looks exceptionally beautiful.

[{Image src='03_Huanglong, Sichuan, China.jpg' caption='Huanglong, Sichuan, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='655'}]

The unofficial name for Huanglong is ‘Fairy Lands', and local dream-like
sights are the reason for that. In addition to multicoloured pools,
there are also the glowing waterfall, the boiling pond and many other
fantastic masterpieces of nature. The ancient temple complex, that once
consisted of three buildings (only two of them has remained till
nowadays, they are situated at the altitude of 3,470 and 3,568 meters),
is one of the man-made monuments of Huanglong. And in the cave full of
stalactites one can also find statues of Buddha encrusted with crystals.

[{Image src='04_Feipu Liuhui (Flying) Waterfall.jpg' caption='Feipu Liuhui (Flying) Waterfall' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='646'}]

The Fujian River flowing through Huanglong seems to have come out of a
painting of a master, who was going to draw a tree. The main flow is
straight like a trunk, and smaller flows are curvy like branches. The
biggest pure water pool is Erdao Lake, it is surrounded by limestone
caves which connect it to the neighbouring lakes. The colour of Erdao
can vary depending on the season. The surface of the lake seems to be
calm, but that's another trick of this place: the strongest undercurrent
is quite typical for Erdao. Huanglong also possesses snow-capped peaks,
glaciers and Zhaga Waterfall, which is 93 meters high and is considered
to be the highest among other Chinese waterfalls.

[{Image src='05_Lianyan (Ripple) Pond.jpg' caption='Lianyan (Ripple) Pond' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='626'}]

The biggest pride of the area is its local flora. More than 1,500
species of land plants were found here, including unique Sichuan pine,
unifoliate grass or grass-star which can be found only in China and are
protected by the state. Huanglong is also inhabited by 59 species of
animals and 155 species of birds. The IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species includes the saiga antelope, the Yunnan leopard, the Thorold's
deer, the golden snub-nosed monkey, and the most famous animal of China
— the giant panda.

[{Image src='06_Huanglong, Sichuan, China.jpg' caption='Huanglong, Sichuan, China' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='622'}]

In 1992 Huanglong was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The
total area of the reservation is 1,830 sq kilometers and is situated
between heights of 1,700 and 5,588 meters, but thanks to our panoramas
you can easily take a trip around these lands.

\\ \\
[16 Panoramas of Huanglong|Geography/Asia/China/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Huanglong]










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