THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Myanmar - page 478

The far north
Located at the point where the subtropical rainforests of Southeast Asia abut the Himalayas,
Myanmar's thickly forested northern tip is a hotspot of biodiversity - a treasure-trove of
endangered and endemic species. These mysterious hills are also home to Asia's shortest
people (and the only true Mongoloid pygmies), the Taron , and Southeast Asia's tallest
mountain, Hkakabo Razi (5881m), which was summited for the first time in 1996 by a
Burmese-Japanese team.
The far north is home to a slew of Myanmar's wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, in-
cluding the world's largest tiger reserve in the Hukaung Valley . Unfortunately, in the latter
case, the sanctuary's creation doesn't seem to have stopped logging companies and gold-
miners from destroying the once rich natural environment, leaving scant evidence of the big
cats it was created to protect. Happily, ecosystems elsewhere are more intact, making this
area still your best chance of spotting wild animals.
THE TARON
With an average height of just 129cm, Asia's only pygmies - the Taron - live in the hills
of Naung Mun Township outside Putao. When the community was first surveyed in the
1960s, Burmese researchers discovered just fifty pureblooded Taron left. Even then, men-
tal and physical disabilities - the result of inbreeding - were rife. By 2005 the population
had dwindled to just four individuals following the Taron's decision, en masse, simply to
stop having children rather than risk future generations suffering ever more severe birth
defects or diluting their tribe's genes by marrying outsiders. They thus effectively made
themselves one of the planet's most endangered human populations.
This particular story, however, may yet have a happy ending. In 2009 genetic links were
discovered between the Taron and the diminutive Dulong, who live in the area around Ch-
ina's Dulong River. The youngest pure Taron, a 111cm-tall man named Dawi, now in his
early fifties, plans to travel to China in hope of finding a Dulong bride.
Putao
The small town of PUTAO is the gateway into this region, but at the time of writing it was
only possible to access it as a paid-up member of a tour (with permits taking three weeks to
process), or as a guest of the eye-wateringly expensive (and crony-owned) Malikha Lodge .
Once a Shan stronghold, and subsequently known by the British as FortHertz , the town has
a market, a sprinkling of pagodas and plenty of enticing views of distant mountains.
Excursions out of Putao range from two-day trips to nearby Kachin villages to multi-day
whitewater rafting trips and the twelve-day round-trip hike to Phongun Razi , at 3635m the