Jiuzhaigou Valley means the valley of nine villages. It is actually a nature reserve found in the Aba Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan Province of Southwestern China. This valley covers an area of about 72 000 hectares and is a part of the Min Shan mountain range on the edge of the Tibetan Himalayan Plateau. The specialty we find in Jiuzhaigou valley is the colourful lakes with varying heights of water curtains. Although there are originally nine villages found here, only seven of them are still populated up to date. Anyhow their main livelihood is tourism as agriculture is not permitted within the reserve.
The valley spreads over 720 km2 with buffer zones covering an additional 600km2 and is composed of three valleys arranged in Y shape. The three valleys namingly, Rize, Zechawa and Shuzheng. The elevation around the area ranges from 1998 to 2140m at Shuzheng Gully to 4558- 4764m on Mount Ganzigonggai at the top of Zechawa Gully. Valley is home for catchment area for three gullies and is one of the sources of the Jialing River. Landscape of the valley is of high elevated karsts shaped by glacial, hydrological and tectonic activity and lies on major fault lines on the diverging belt between the Qinghai-Tibet Plate and the Yangtze Plate, and earthquakes have also shaped the landscape. Jiuzhaigou is well famous for its blue, green and turquoise coloured lakes which are given the name “Haizi” by locals meaning “son of the sea”. The lakes vary in color and aspect according to their depths, residues, and surroundings.
Jiuzhaigou has temperate broad leaf forests and woodlands with mixed mountain and highlands and the forests turn into beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red hues in the autumn. This place is also homes number of plant species of interest such as endemic varieties of rhododendron and bamboo. One can also find giant panda and golden snub-nosed monkey here but they have been threatened by the increase in tourists visiting Jiuzhaigou. Jiuzhaigou also provides space for about 140 bird species.
Travellers’ Guide
If you are planning to visit Jiuzhaigou there are flights available from Chengdu or Chongqing to Jiuzhaigou Huanglong Airport near Songpan County and from there you can take an hour-long bus ride to Huanglong, or a 90-minute bus ride to Jiuzhaigou. Flights between Chengdu and Jiuzhaigou Huanglong airport are available on Air China, Sichuan Airlines, South China Airways and China Eastern. But many access Juizhaigou by road. Public Bus services are also available from the Xinnanmen and Chadianzi bus stations in Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou.
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