Burang County-Sacred Mount Kailash Base Camp-Zhada
Today you will return along the original route to National Highway 219 and continue onward. Soon you will arrive at the viewing area of the base camp of the sacred Mount Kailash. Mount Kailash is located in Barga Township, northern Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, western Tibet. It is the highest peak of the western section of the Gangdise Range (which runs between the Kunlun Mountains to the north and the Himalayas to the south), one of the four sacred mountains of Tibetan Buddhism, and is also recognized by Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, the indigenous Tibetan religion Bon, and ancient Jainism as the "center of the world."
You may stop here to enjoy the view and take photos, then continue onward and have lunch along the way. After lunch, you will enter the territory of Zanda. Zanda County is also very suitable for astrophotography, where you can capture stunning starry-sky portraits. Below is the distribution of attractions in Zanda County.
A high mountain on the southwestern border of Zanda County is called Kamet by India, at 7,756 meters, India's third-highest peak. Legend says she was the famous grandmother guardian deity mountain of the ancient Zhangzhung period, surrounded by 108 snow peaks like descendants. The peak is tall and abrupt, with a typical pyramid shape. From Burang to Zanda, you are sure to see her holy countenance.
The Zanda Earth Forest, as a special landform combination, is most typical and largest in scale in the canyon area centered on Zhamo Town. The Zanda Earth Forest reflects the lacustrine sedimentary features left by the Zanda Basin after intense plateau uplift in the Lower Pleistocene of the Quaternary. It is a rare feast for understanding geology and landforms. The Langchen Tsangpo: the Chinese transliteration "Langqin Zangbu" means Elephant River. Its basin covers all of Zanda County and it is the main river of Ngari Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is also the upper reaches of the Sutlej River, the largest tributary of the Indus River. To the east is the Shiquan River. In its middle reaches is the Guge Kingdom ruins, and at its lower end is Diya Township, rich in fruit. The Langchen Tsangpo originates at the foot of the sacred Mount Kailash and is formed by 18 rivers large and small, with a total length of 450 kilometers. Carrying the spiritual essence of the sacred mountain and embracing a weighty historical scroll, it flows ceaselessly day and night, surging westward, crossing the earth forest, cutting through the Himalayas, and flowing into the Indian Ocean.
The Guge Kingdom ruins have a history of more than a thousand years. From the 10th to the 17th century AD, it played an important role after the Tubo Dynasty in Tibet. The surviving structures at the Guge Kingdom ruins include 1,416 various buildings such as caves, houses, watchtowers, and ancient stupas, among which are 879 caves, 445 house remains, 60 watchtowers, 28 various ruined stupas, and 4 secret passages. The better-preserved ones include the Red Temple and the White Temple. Both contain sculptures and brightly colored murals and paintings, covering social life, religious stories, portraits of royal lineages, and more.
🍽️ Breakfast included, lunch on your own, dinner on your own
🏨 Zanda
