Zanda Earthen Forests

The orogenic movement of the Himalaya has made the bottom of the lake ascend. And the undulating earthen forest of dozens of kilometers were formed by the flushing of water subsidence and long years of wethering . Walking in these narrow earthen forests as if a walk in the ruins of an ancient kingdom, desolate but magnificient.

Zhada, which means in Tibetan "the place where there are grass in the lower reaches of river", is a County under the administration of Nagri Prefecture. Famous Tuolin Monastery and relic Guge Kingdom stand there. Entering into Zhada County, the clay forest standing on both sides of Elephant Spring River wind over more than five kilometers. Some clay are like the warrior defending the mountain top, some like thousands of horses galloping, and some like devout followers of a religion cultivating themselves, standing there quietly. From different view, you can get different wonderful scenery.

The clay forest is called in Geology "the Level Terrane Physiognomy", which is formed by erosion of water. It is the sediment stratum of lakes and rivers, mainly composed by sandstone and clay. Because the Level Terrane is easy to develop its upright quality and the sandstone like flour is qualified with uprightness, the valley is deep. Even a canaliculus can reach 100 to 200 meters.

The orogenic movement of the Himalaya has made the bottom of the lake ascend. And the undulating earthen forest of dozens of kilometers were formed by the flushing of water subsidence and long years of wethering . Walking in these narrow earthen forests as if a walk in the ruins of an ancient kingdom, desolate but magnificient.

This peculiar and mystic physiognomy densely cover the whole Zhada County. During the Xiangxiong and Guge Kingdom, people made caves to live using this kind of natural resource. Now, more than 400 caves made by Tibetan forebears are found in the clay forest, which forms the the old building group.

How to get there: It takes a dozen hours from Shiquanhe to the earthen forests and the trip covers 255 kilometers. You can hire a car to go and back for three or four days and daily cost is 800 yuan. The earthen forests are close to the Zanda County seat. It can be reached on foot from the county seat.