Expedition to Sichuan 2024

Roergai County

Our goals in Roergai were Mountain Cat, Asian Badger as well as the regulars that are easier to see there – Plateau Pike, Red Fox, Tibetan Fox, Tibetan Gazelle, Woolly Hare, Siberian Roe Deer and Alpine Musk Deer.  After two days searching the plateau, we dipped on the main targets sadly but had ample views of the others. Considering my flight to Chengdu was only three hours (and $80 round trip!), I can see myself coming back her again in the near future to try again. It was interesting to see how similar and yet so different Roergai County is compared to the Qinghai portion of the Tibetan Plateau. Although the culture is similar, Roergai seemed much more touristy and developed. But then again, I haven’t been to Qinghai in over 11 years.

We started our expedition with a good session of spotlighting. While it was a non-stop action-packed evening, after our 40th (not an exaggeration) Tibetan Red Fox, we were pretty fatigued…The wind and ungodly low temps (minimum of minus 15 Celsius!!!) made it a fairly challenging endeavor, but we persisted. We also spotted half a dozen Tibetan Fox, but none gave us a photo-opp at all. I was thinking we’d surely get some daytime views of the human-faced Tibetan Fox the next day, as I had so many such views in Qinghai some 12 years back, but none were to be had! (Link to my older pics of Tibetan Fox)  In fact, all of the diurnal animals that I’d seen so well and so easily in Qinghai years earlier in the daytime were completely nocturnal here! Perhaps a behavioural shift due to human interference?

Along with the countless Red Fox sightings, we saw many Woolly Hare and many “mystery” eye-shines too far to distinguish.

Our first full day in the field was spent cruising the roads in the Roergai region searching for life. We visited spectacular Jilongke Gorge that took us down from the Tibetan Plateau grasslands to the conifer forests in search for Alpine Musk Deer, my main target for the region. No luck but the scenery itself was amazing. Loads of birdlife and even a dead domestic Yak in the gorge attracting countless Himalayan Vulture and Magpies.

The high grasslands of the plateau gave us magnificent views of countless Plateau Pika and Tibetan Gazelles and some nice plateau avian fauna.  The Pika fields were mixed in many cases with Chinese Zokor mounds that were huge in number which tempted us to try for some at night, but time was limited. Our daylight scanning gave us distant views of at least one Tibetan Wolf who seemed to be harassing a small herd of sheep. Nice

Although I was not necessarily expecting to see them, we did see a small herd of Bharal or Blue Sheep across the gorge as well. Nighttime gave us views of Siberian Roe Deer, a photographic lifer for me after being denied a picture of one at Victor Luden’s wildlife reserve in Ussuriland, Russia (see this report here).

The galleries below show some images of the mammals and birds of Roergai County:

Tangjiahe Nature Reserve

Our next destination, 8-hours away, was Tangjiahe, one of Sichuan’s spectacular nature reserves. I’d spent three days in this reserve back in 2012 with great luck.  This trip was even luckier! We had some outstanding views of so much of the fauna of the reserve, much of which was at night as well. Again, it was strange as most if not all of the species I saw at night in 2024 were very diurnal in 2012.  Our route to Tangjiahe from Roergai could not be overstated with how spectacular it was.  Amazing views in all directions.  We did catch a Tufted Deer (thanks Bob!) and a dead Siberian Weasel and some great Blue-eyed Pheasant sightings along the way.

We arrived Tangjiahe at night. Our two nights on the roads of Tangjiahe gave us good views of so many species including at least two Mainland Leopard Cats, so many Sichuan Takin, Tufted Deer, countless Chinese Goral… Believe it or not, Mainland Leopard Cat has been a bogie critter for me for so many years! I’ve failed to see it in decades of night spotting in Southeast Asia. Tangjiahe gave us at least two individuals with more to be had at our next destination.

Daylight hours in Tangjiahe was outstanding as well. A few Sichuan Takin were still milling about in the early mornings and Tibetan Macaques were assembling in good numbers to greet the crowds of tourists. I was particularly happy to see so many of the macaques considering ten years earlier it took me three days to see one lone male. Pere David’s Rock Squirrels were seen from time to time too. (Link to images of Pere David’s Rock Squirrels) The highpoint of the daytime sightings was a sprinting Yellow-throated Marten that rock-hopped across the river directly in front of our entourage! What a great sighting of this awesome carnivore.

Our base camp was the ultra luxurious Tangjiahe Hotel, situated inside the park.  Heated toilets, electric blankets and marble everything – wow!  Only the service was a bit off-putting…  A random power outage the first night made it a bit freezing.  With some pretty vociferous complaining we finally had the staff actually do something about it. It was clear initially they could not give a rip and were going to make us suffer the rest of our stay in frozen rooms…Ah, this was the China I remembered. Once the power was on in new rooms, all was good and cozy again!  The ten-stars reappeared…

The galleries below show some images of the mammals and birds of Tangjiahe Nature Reserve:

Labahe Nature Reserve

Labahe is a new location for me in Sichuan. I knew it was a pretty special place after seeing so many impressive trip reports come out on the place over the years. Our main target for this location was the elusive Chinese Red Panda, which we had successfully near the end of our first and only full day in the park in the mid elevations of Erlang Mountain, where they spend their lives munching on the wild Actinidia berries that still exist frozen this deep into the winter months.   This is one of the best places in China for this species although by no means is it guaranteed.

The search for the Red Panda begins with an early public bus ride up to the mid-high elevations of Mount Erlang, where most visitors go to sled and play in the snow. It is possible to venture all the way to the summit via gondola, but our mission was to slowly trek downslope to the prime area of the Red Panda. An easy enough concept but in the dead of winter, after a couple of days of wet, freezing rain, we had a hell of a time sliding our way down the treacherous, black-iced road, nearly spilling several times. Luckily though the salting of the roads and the increasing temps allowed for most of the stroll to be ice free and quite easy. Right where Sid said was the prime Red Panda area, Jon Hall caught a heat signature hidden behind a defoliated tree. Sure enough, it was a Red Panda! (speaking of leaf-less trees – my recommendation is to concentrate your attempts for the Red Pandas in months when the trees have lost their leaves – it was hard enough seeing them through leaf-less trees, I can only imagine how difficult it would be with full foliage.)

We watched this magnificent animal for some time, hoping for a better view as it was obscured behind a web of twigs and branches. After a few minutes, it decided to work its way down the tree allowing us some very quick but decent views. What a treat! After all my times in prime Red Panda habitat, and even having seen the rear end of one dashing from the garbage can in Wawu-shan, I finally had my good view and mediocre pics of one of my top five target species, and one of the most charismatic species of mammals on the planet. Mission accomplished!

Our two nights on the roads of Labahe gave us good views of so many species including more Mainland Leopard Cats, 3 Forest Musk Deer (a lifer for me!), Tufted Deer, many more Chinese Goral and a couple of Chinese Serow (supposedly lumped to Indochinese Serow now?)  A good view of Malayan Porcupine and Masked Palm Civet made the night extra special. Two species of bats (Japanese Horseshow and a Rufous Tubenose Murine bat) were seen – both in torpor. It was also nice to see several Red & White Giant Flying Squirrels although they were all fairly distant. (Use this link for images of this species from previous trips)

The main nocturnal goal for us here at Labahe was the normally elusive Chinese Hog Badger and Chinese Ferret Badger. On our first night’s session of spotlighting we spotted many Ferret Badgers, one of which allowed decent photos. Our 10-star hotel had them running around its grounds in good numbers too, I personally spotted three on the first night and Jon had more the second night as well. We did spot what I still think was a good Hog Badger on night one as well. It was at least twice as big as the Hog Badgers and a very pronounced raised rear end…. We will never know for sure. I mark it as a “possible”….

The galleries below show some images of the mammals and birds of Labahe Nature Reserve & Mount Erlang:

Expedition “Sichuan 2024” was an unmitigated success!  Our team could not be beat – so many truly experienced and expert wildlife spotters (not to mention professional spotters) who were such great company – we had a blast! Sid was perhaps one of the funniest hosts I have ever travelled with! Oh so irreverent and full of amazing and funny-as-hell stories! I would love to travel with these people again anytime. Our targets were mainly met, with only a couple of exceptions, but there are always those “reasons-to-comeback” species that keep us enthusiastic about carrying on. The bitter cold of the regions visited was countered by the warm good-natured group of friends I had the pleasure of hanging with while in one of my favourite places on earth – China.