Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Tibetan red deer was recently 'discovered' only 75km from Lhasa after a 50-year
hiatus, as was a hitherto unknown breed of ancient wild horse in the Riwoche region of
eastern Tibet.
Wild yaks are mostly encountered in the far northern region of Changtang. The biggest
bull yaks are reputed to be as large as a 4WD. Even rarer is the divine giant white yak,
thought by Tibetans to inhabit the higher reaches of sacred mountains.
The
chiru,
a rare breed of antelope, was recently placed on the Red List
(
www.redlist.org
), a list of threatened species maintained by the World Conservation
Union. Numbers in Tibet dropped from over a million
chiru
50 years ago to around
100,000 today. Poachers kill the animal for its
shatoosh
wool (wool from the animal's un-
dercoat).
The illegal trade in antelope cashmere, musk, bear paws and gall bladders, deer antlers,
and other body parts and bones remains a problem. You can often see Tibetan traders
huddled on street corners in major Chinese cities selling these and other medicinal cures.
As early as 1642, the fifth Dalai Lama issued an edict protecting animals and the environ-
ment.
Tibet in Bloom
Juniper trees and willows are common in the valleys of central Tibet and it is possible to
come across wildflowers such as the pansy and the oleander, as well as unique indigenous
flowers such as the tsi-tog (a light-pink, high-altitude bloom).
Eastern Tibet, which sees higher rainfall, has an amazing range of flora, from oak, elm
and birch forests to bamboo, subtropical plants and flowers, including rhododendrons, aza-
leas and magnolias. It was from here that intrepid 19th-century plant hunters FM Bailey,
Frank Kingdon-Ward and Frank Ludlow took the seeds and cuttings of species that would
eventually become staples in English gardening.
