Tiger tale's sad demise

A HIKE through the spectacular Tiger Leaping Gorge in China stretches the muscles and the senses. But probably not for much longer, writes Andy Phillips.

The "High Road" ... the gorge is 20km long and a path that runs along it is shared by trekkers and the region's resident Naxi people.

STOPPING at a random point along the dirt trail, I take a swig from my water bottle and look across the ravine to consider the view - again.

The snow-capped peak of Jade Dragon Mountain rises more than 2500m from the level on which I stand; the emerald-green Yangtze River gushes the same distance below.

In between, the land is terraced so farmers can grow rice and scrape out their living. It feels like the edge of the world. Their homes, still made of mud and straw, are framed by bright flaps of clothing drying on lines in the wind.

This is the heart of Tiger Leaping Gorge, in Yunnan province; a trek which follows a path carved out of the mountainside from one small village to another, both indistinguishable were it not for their dazzling, World Heritage-listed backdrop.

Much of the trek represents China as many people had expected it to be; ancient, wild, spectacular. But this is a long way from the traditional ports of entry into the country called the Middle Kingdom by its citizens.

With the Olympics headed to the capital Beijing in 2008, and infrastructure growing ever more rapidly, options for travel in China have suddenly blossomed. More trips are venturing west to Sichuan province and the city of Chengdu, and here, to Yunnan, which has a cultural vibrancy which has vanished elsewhere in China.

Ethnic minorities, including the gorge's resident Naxi people, contribute to an estimated total of more than 40 dialects of Chinese spoken in Yunnan alone. Alongside this diversity come traditions which favour bright clothing over the dour business suits worn in the north, and dishes including sticky rice served in a hollowed-out pineapple or Tibetan-style fried goat's cheese.

Intrepid travellers and backpackers have long been the sole pioneers of foreigners' excursions into this corner of China; now it is mainstream tourists who are choosing to escape the big cities.

Tiger Leaping Gorge itself is one of the world's deepest canyons, and gained its name from a legend in which a tiger is said to have jumped over the Yangtze River at its narrowest point (25m) while fleeing a hunter.

There is even a "Tiger Leaping Stone'' at the water's edge. The trekking path, called the "high road'' is a rough, earth track still used by Naxi people travelling between villages.

There is also a lower road, now sealed, which is used by day-trippers on their way to lookout points. Parts of this road are prone to rock slides and have been known to disappear into the river below, especially in the rainy season.

The usual starting point for the trek is the tiny village of Qiaotou, a three-hour bus ride from the larger town of Lijiang. A few hours further by bus, on the road to Tibet, and you reach Zhongdian, a town which the Chinese claim to be Shangri-La, the myth which launched a thousand hotels.

The gorge is 20km long but winds up and around the mountains, finishing in the village of Daju.

The trek can be done the other way, or even extended. It is possible to walk the track in two days (people even talk of a lone German who did it in one), but it is far better to take at least three days and include several overnight stops.

Landowners, perhaps tired of watching smiling tourists walk straight past, have converted their homes into cafes and guesthouses scattered along the path. There are now 17 guesthouses along the trail, set up by farmers who previously worked in hazardous mines to support their families.

Beds cannot be booked in advance, as there are no telephone lines in the gorge. A few places now have electricity, which powers one or two light bulbs, but hot showers are still provided through wood-burning stoves.

A visit to as many of these pit stops is recommended, as few charge more than a couple of Chinese renminbi for a drink or small snack; even meals rarely cost more than a dollar.

These havens help walkers make it up the ominous-sounding "twenty-six bends'', a seemingly never-ending ascent which involves more switchback turns than the name implies.

While new stops surface each year, suggested stops include the Tea Horse guesthouse about five or six hours in, and the area of Walnut Garden, a further four to five hours, which includes the gorge's first inn, Sean's Spring Guesthouse, established in 1983.

Where the trail crisscrosses at some points, travellers are directed by red and yellow arrows painted and re-painted on rocks by Sean (gorge local Xia Shanquan) himself. The last leg of the trek takes walkers out of the gorge and along an asphalt road, before dropping down to the fast-flowing Yangtze River which is crossed via a ferry service.

This final section is often done with some haste as the last bus from Daju leaves for Lijiang at 1.30pm. But in recent years, trekkers familiar with the gorge have been given more to worry about than missing their bus.

A Chinese government proposal to build a 278m-high hydro-electric dam across Tiger Leaping Gorge is expected to start as early as next year, displacing an estimated 100,000 Naxi people and destroying countless species of plants.

The dam would create the world's biggest reservoir, backing up to an estimated 201km, and would destroy the trek. Though environmentalists are lobbying hard to stop the project, China's energy-hungry developers look likely to win out, and make the trek just another one of the country's faded legends.