Status of Wolong Reseve, China (1 Viewer)

I'm a birder on month 5 of a trip through Asia and am currently in Sichuan. I was hoping to pay a visit to Wolong Reserve, but I'm getting conflicting opinions about the current status of the place. I'm hoping someone can tell me if the road from Chengdu is being traversed by public buses, and if there's at least one cheap hotel, one taxi, and one restaraunt operating in Wolong Village (Sawan)--I think that's all I need. I'm hoping to walk up to Wuyipeng on 2 or 3 days if I can't arrange an on-the-spot stay at the center. Does anyone know if Wuyipeng is staffed right now? Any thoughts on trying Balan Shan Pass in mid-April? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Erik if you read the Sichuan thread you'll see we were last up at Wuyipeng around March. The panda base building at the top of the ridge looked pretty shabby - nobody was staying there (we saw a young American researcher climbing up each day on a Panda trapping project for radio-tagging - but she was living down at the road) - and reserve staff told us that no accommodation will be offered there this year. Down on the road many of the hotels in Wolong Town are still out of commission due to the quake - but small truck driver style hotels are open. We stay at the truck hotels close to bridge that takes you onto the Wuyipeng track - they are about 3 km outside Wolong town in a village called Sawan. You pay around 50/60RMB/night and can get food. The track up to Wuyipeng takes about 2 hours to climb depending on time you spend birding.
As for getting there - we have our own transport so don't know too much about busses - but guess you have to take a bus in the direction of Wenchuan (may have to get this from Dujiangyan) and get off at the turn-off to Wolong which comes just before Yingxiu - and then get a minibus to Wolong (there were plenty of minibuses operating on the road). This area was the epicenter of the quake and a lot of horrible construction is going on at the moment.
Wuyipeng itself wasn't too damaged - there are a few landslides on the paths that lead further in to the reserve from the panda base - but there are still plenty of places to walk.
Good luck - Wuyipeng and the areas further on towards Balang Pass make for some great birding.

Erik, There used to be a bus from Chengdu to Xiaojin that went through Wolong and over Balangshan Pass. (Buses to Danba - west of Xiaojin - went via Ya'an and Erlangshan)

But I haven't been there for at least three years and I don't the current situation.

Regards
John

There are no public busses running to Wolong. And I guess this will remain so for all over this year. Panda hotels and research station aren't rebuilt yet. Pandas are either in exile in Bifeng Xia or visiting the Shanghai Expo.
So no reason for re-opening the bus line.
The solution would be:
Getting a bus to Wenchuan from Chadianzi Bus Station (the one at 3rd ring road NW section). Getting off at Yingxiu junction (big sign: earthquake epicentre tourist spot)
and from there you take a taxi or try it by hitchhiking. (hiring a car could be a terrible rip off, while the normal price should be sth around 200Yuan)
Just below Wuyipeng, on the right hand side of the road and 200m before a small temple there are three guesthouses. Those are supposed to be open.

Good luck

Those are supposed to be open.

Click to expand...

They are open - these are the places I called the truck drivers hotels. Since no tourists stay here any more they've lost a michelin star or two - but are quite livable. They have showers with electric heaters - so at least you can get a bath.

In my first post I wrote no accommodation will be offered this year at the Wuyipeng reserve - but after just returning from Wolong we can now say that this was false info since birding groups are once gain being offered the use of the Panda base building on the ridge. However other birders we met were still staying at the hotels on the road.

Hi China Guy! I'm heading to Wolong and was wondering whether you or anyone had any updates on access to the reserve and accommodations there. How do I get to the pass cheaply? I heard that you can stay with local folks up top. I'll be carrying a heavy 600 mm lens plus other equipment. Thanks.

Hi Thrush - we phoned up friends at Wolong this evening - they said at the moment the road from Chengdu via Dujiangyan is open from landslides - but heavy rains can of course cause delays.

As for accommodation - there are plenty of hotels to choose from around Sawan - the best now seems to be Yuan Shen Tai - which is next-door to the army barracks.

As for transport up onto Ballang Pass - there are plenty of folk with cars or vans who maybe interested in cutting a deal for you and your lens. Just keep your fingers crossed for clear skies and no rain!!!!!

As for Wuyipeng - for us it was a case of walking up the track. A least one of the larger tour groups stayed up on the ridge this year - but many of the good birds are seen on the walk up. To get permission to stay on the top, as a single person, could take a lot time and paper-work - I think the best way to tackle that problem is talk with anyone you meet when you get to ridge building - but saying that the last two visits we had (just over 3 weeks back) the whole area was empty of any reserve personnel.

Here's an autumn update on the Wolong/Balang situation - as from a few days ago.
Now that the heavy summer rains have stopped - the most direct Chengdu to Wolong route - on the motorway via Dujiangyan - is again open and very doable. With a dry day and the luck not to bump into one of the small traffic jams that are often caused by big trucks meeting nose to nose on the narrower parts of the road - then it quite possible to drive from Chengdu center to Wolong Town in around 3 hours. The bad landslide section that caused all the problems during the summer - between Genda and Wolong Town - now seems to be more stable. However those summer rains caused an awful lot of mudslides - and they were still clearing up the debris of the roads when we were there a few days ago!!!!
About 3/4 of the way up the ridge I'm afraid the path up to Wuyipeng has taken a bit of a battering. Here there's been a landslide that now blocks the path for the cautious birder - but more adventurous soles could scramble their way up the muddy slopes to get to the top.

However remember there are many other places to bird - lots of interesting tracks can take you into good birding habitat on both sides of the valleys - and there's some birding sites further down the road towards the Balang pass.

The Balang Road is now starting to be affected by nighttime frosts so we expect that the usual Police block will soon be put in place. This will stop vehicles driving before 8.30AM. This of course puts a bit of damper on Pheasant watching at the Monal stakeout, since the golden hour comes between 7 and 8 in the morning.

The pictures better illustrate the situation -
pic 1 shows the Wuyipeng ridge from the opposite side of the valley. That slide has taken out a chunk at the top of the ridge.

Pic 2 shows Meggie making her way on the slide area - this bit wasn't too bad and more feet will create more of a path on this section.

pic 3 is where the path as we used to know it stops in a jumble of roots branches and mud.

pic 4 - far more worrying than any landslide was the discovery of this poached Serow in a valley the locals call Sansheng (on the road between Wolong Town and Dengsheng Valley). Locals were pretty baffled after seeing the pic as to why the horns were cut off and the head had been left - normally the head also has a value.