Western sichuan opening up again for Birding (1 Viewer)

During the Olympic period - due to so-called security reasons (these not being directly related to the quake) - a lot of great Sichuan birding areas in the west of the province were closed down to foreign travelers. Well it now looks like the situation is well on the mend - we made a trip last week through Kangding and into the grassland that lies over the Zheduo pass - no problems. When we got there we were told that foreigners started turning up again in September.
This makes a lot of difference for those planning a Sichuan birding trip - and gives a lot more scope after Wuyipeng and Balang were put out of action through the quake. Chinese can now get back into the Balang pass area - and we even heard of an English mountaineering guide driving all the way to the outskirts of Rilong - but then being turned back there because he was a non-national. These places should also be getting back on the map, but I hate to guess when that will be - I also hate to think of the state of the road at the moment, and the situation of the poor folk who still live out there. But one thing for sure when these places do open - and you want to help the local economy - don't feel uneasy about going - tourism is important to these places,you'll be more than welcome. This by the way is the case around Qingcheng Mountain and Dujiangyan - also badly quake hit - but already open again for tourists and birders.
For more info on our trips see my latest birdforum blogs - there are links here to a couple more blogs we keep, which have posts on this latest trip.
My birdforum blog is here -
http://www.birdforum.net/blog.php?u=6819

Good news indeed, we are all looking forward to being able to return to this amazing part of the world.

I am not normally into blogs but have been keeping up with china guys birding trips around his area [including the one to sichuan] and they are very good....you almost feel as if you are wlaking with him and there are pictures of great birds.