Wild Elephant Valley
Overview
Wild Elephant Valley
Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant & Nature Reserve lies at the crossroads between the eastern and western zones of the Mengyang Tourism Area, at 747–1055 meters above sea level. The reserve is made up of low hills and small hillocks, with wide valley bottoms rich in waterholes that contain enough salt to meet the biological needs of the wild Asian elephant. The wild elephant groups that roam about in the protection zone between Mengla and Mengyu are designated as National Elephants, while those that roam about inside the Mengla protection zone are designated as International Elephants, as the latter often come and go across the China-Laos border.
The Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant & Nature Reserve, with its dense forest and its rich variety of animals and birds rarely seen outside a zoo, is one of the few places in the world where wildlife can be viewed in its natural habitat, where it is we humans who are "caged in", as it were, as we watch the wild animals and birds going about their daily lives with as little interference as possible from we humans, while still allowing us to witness these fantastic creatures in their natural setting. All of these make Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant & Nature Reserve something of an open-air museum, which with a difference: these creatures cavort about in their natural habitat, not in a man-made, city zoo habitat.
Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant & Nature Reserve consists of four sites of interest to the visitor:
· An Asian Elephant Breeding Center, established in Xishuangbanna by the Chinese government’s State Forestry Commission, but still under construction,
· An Asian Elephant Ecological Observation Center,
· The natural corridor, or ravine, where wild animals roam freely (and where the visitor may observe these animals via a cableway over the ravine), including - besides the wild elephants, of course - the bear and the water buffalo, and where there is a Python Pavilion, a Bird Park that is home to a number of rare birds, and a Butterfly Park,
· And lastly, a Jinuo ethnic minority village with a tent camping facility offering campfire parties, and, for those who require a more tranquil stay, mountain huts for rent.
At the Jinuo village the visitor can observe first-hand the unique lifestyle of this special minority group, and, with a bit of luck, one might observe a Jinuo religious ceremony where ritualistic music is played involving the use of very large - and sacred - sun-drums (the Jinuo are animists, i.e., they believe, as do many other ethnic groups around the world, including American Indians, that all things, inanimate as well as animate, possess a spirit, the sun being especially sacred to the Jinuo - to learn more about the Jinuo ethnic minority, click here).
A Survey of the Reserve’s Natural Resources
The planned area of Xishuangbanna Wild Elephant & Nature Reserve is 369 hectares. The reserve is abundant in various natural resources including subtropical forests, tropical rainforests (these are found in the valleys below 800 meters above sea level), half-deciduous rainforests (distributed between 800-900 meters above sea level), and subtropical evergreen broad-leafed forests. And of course, there is the usual range of naturally-occurring wild animals in these various forest habitats. In addition, there are more than 400 types of plants on either side of the ravine that is home to the wild elephant herds, including the banyan, olive, and longan tree.
There are several groups, or families, of wild elephants living in the ravine, numbering about 60 head in all. They share the ravine with the bear, the wild buffalo, and the cobra, to name some of the more exotic species. It would be unfair not to point out that the reserve is also home to many wild birds which attacts the attention not only of international bird experts, but also of groups of visiting bird-watchers.
Features
Watch these fantastic creatures in their natural setting
