On Sunday, June 27, Greg Graves, Board Member of Pacific Horticulture Foundation will lead a tour of the Tibetan Plateau which is described as a Journey for Plant Enthusiasts. The high Tibetan Plateau has for centuries been a place of fascination for Western naturalists and explorers. Its vast meadows support a wonderfully varied mix of grasses and wildflowers – and some of the richest alpine plant communities in the world. Expansive grasslands in the eastern part nurture those communities, while in the high basins further west, domestic yak and timid herds of wild ungulates like Tibetan gazelle and their predators, the Tibetan wolf and snow leopard, thrive.
The Tibetan highlands form a resplendent tapestry of rolling hills, meadows, lakes surprisingly large and often a sky of deep blue with endless puffy clouds. Local people still accompany their herds of yak, camping in traditional tents of canvas and felt (www.yurtalert.com). Birders and plant enthusiasts tend to be well-rewarded for their efforts.
From Chengdu in Sichuan Province, where you will visit the giant panda breeding center, you travel by coach to Xining, with plenty of botanizing stops along the way, then by train to the historic town of Lhasa, and by bus again from the Lhasa Valley to Namco Lake, where wildflowers abound at 15,000 feet elevation. For a detailed itinerary, contact Betchart Expeditions, Inc. at 1-800-252-4910, or log on to www.betchartexpeditions.com. The per person cost of this extraordinary voyage is $4,395 plus air.
