I Stalk a Leopard in the Mountains of China

Sichuan Province, China

When preparing for my first trip to the Wolong Panda Breeding Preserve, which is located several hours drive from Chengdu, in the Sichuan Province of China, I learned that leopards inhabit the forest around the Panda Preserve.  The elevation is around 1,500 meters.  A combination of Pine, hardwood and bamboo forests cover the slopes of the steep sided river valley where the panda preserve is located.  The date was October 31, 2005, when I arrived there.

Seeing a leopard in the wild has been on my list of things to do for some time, so I decided to prepare for the panda trip as if I would also be going out to stalk leopards.

Since leopards are nocturnal I packed an assortment of nighttime camouflage gear.  I packed away a black knit ski hat that rolls down to cover my face, a dark black fleece hood, black gloves, and dark blue and black waterproof outerwear.

One day while talking with our van driver, Ted, I learned that in the darkest hours of the night from 9:00 PM to Midnight drivers sometimes see leopards crossing the main road that runs between the nearest town of Wolong and the Panda Garden.  In fact, Ted told me had just seen a leopard around 9:00 or 10:00 P.M. the night before.  It had crossed the road only a mile up the mountain from the Panda Inn.

This was exciting news.  I was determined to go out that very evening and stalk this wild leopard.

 

The Panda Inn management locks the front door to the hotel and the main gate to the grounds surrounding the hotel at midnight.  I figured I had a two or three hour search window, from around 9:00 PM until just before midnight. 

    

When they heard me discussing my plan with our guide, some members of the Panda encounter group asked if they could go along.  I was concerned for their safety.  It seemed too dangerous to take someone else along with me. 

To avoid the chance that I would get talked into taking someone else along, I just told the group that I didn’t think I would go out.  But then after dinner I advised Jai, our Chinese translator & local guide, that I would be going out for a walk that night.  I promised her I would be back by midnight, before the doors were locked for the evening. 

Jai is a city girl and was concerned about me going out alone.  Earlier in the day, while doing a day hike, Jai became just a little bit frightened when a group of 3 wild pigs ran through the underbrush near our hiking trail.  Jai (pronounced Jaw) heard the pigs rustling in the underbrush 50 yards from us, down by the Pitaio River.  She looked concerned and asked me what was making the noise. 

I whispered for Jai to be quiet and said “I don’t know what’s there, but let’s wait and see, maybe it is a Golden talken”.

But the noise proved to be the work of a wild boar and two females who moved closer to us in the brush and then suddenly burst from the underbrush on a second trail perhaps 5 meters from our position. Jai screamed and grabbed my arm while moving to hide behind me, as if those three wild pigs were monsters in a sci-fi movie.

For the remainder of that hike Jai would not leave my side.  As we finished the one hour hike, she walked so close, I sometimes felt her bump my back if I stopped too quickly. 

So now, while trying to calm Jai’s fears for my safety in the night, (she felt responsible for my safety) I told her some stories about past solo mountain adventures I have been on.  I meant to calm her worries, but I think my stories just made her even more apprehensive.  Moving toward the door that opened into the cold night air, I promised once again to be back before the doors were locked at midnight.

  

It was cold that night in the mountain valley.  The elevation is about 4,500 feet and this was early November.  The weather had been turbulent and rainy before our group arrived in Wolong, but upon our arrival a period of nice days and cold nights settled in.  The leaves on the hardwood trees had begun to turn red and amber but were just now beginning to shed their leaves.  This made for some pretty daytime scenery.

Stalking a leopard   

Just up the road a few miles from the Panda Garden there was a thick layer of snow on the ground and in the forests that would just keep growing deeper with each passing storm, until spring came once again.  I knew that the temperature would drop well below freezing by midnight. 

I layered up with two thicknesses of thermal underwear, a heavy polar fleece outer layer, a second layer of fleece outer pants and then my waterproof gear.  It wasn’t raining, but the waterproof gear would keep the wind and night mist out.  Sitting in one spot for hours on end in cold weather can be very uncomfortable if you don’t have the proper clothing.

Preparing for a night in the forest. 1.  Under layer of moisture wicking long underwear that has Spandex and is form fitting. 2.  Second layer of lightweight warm long underwear. 3.  mid layer of black polyester fleece. 4.  Outer layer of dark midnight blue Goretex coat and pants. 5.  In addition to the black wool hat in this photo, I also work a black balaclava that could be pulled down over my face. 6.  I am told that when my granddaughter saw this photo she started to cry. She was 11 at the time.

To avoid attracting attention when I left the hotel, the black hood, gloves and ski mask were stuffed inside my jacket as I exited through the front lobby.  I had my Nikon D70 digital camera slung over my left shoulder, as I always do.  As ready as I was ever going to be, I casually sauntered out of the hotel at 8:30 P.M. 

  

There were some local people gathered under the lights near the hotel entrance when I exited the hotel lobby.  They were waiting for rides up the road to the town of Wolong where they live.  I walked slowly uphill past them and toward the town of Wolong, away from the lights of the hotel and the Panda Preserve.

  

As I walked from beneath the direct glare of the streetlights, I realized that the night was as black as it could possibly be.  The sky was thoroughly clouded over.  There would be no starlight to guide my leopard stalking efforts.

After walking into the dark away from the lights to the point where I could no longer see the road beneath my feet, I stepped off the shoulder of the road to take a few minutes while my night vision adjusted.  Ten minutes later, everything was still black around me.  I couldn’t see anything ahead of me uphill, just the glow of the hotel lights behind me.

   

I began to walk up the road once more.  Not being able to see the ground beneath me, I took each step cautiously.  With each careful step away from the hotel I felt just a little bit more insecure.  Stalking a hungry leopard in a night so dark that I couldn’t see my own shoes became less appealing with every footstep away from the friendly glow of the Panda Inn lights.

Fifteen minutes of this slow uphill stroll and I felt a tingling sensation running down my spine, into my stomach.  It wasn’t sweat.  I felt as if someone – or something was watching me.  The back of my neck had a tingling feeling to it.  My pace seemed to slow a little bit with each additional step uphill.  Now each stride of my double insulated Danner hunting boots was carefully measured.  Each boot set slowly onto the concrete roadway as if I were sneaking up the roadside.  My ears strained to hear the slightest sound.  My hands, unseen in the pure black night, waved in front of me.  I used the edge of the concrete roadway as my guide.

Another 20 minutes of this slow walking brought me to where I thought I was near the site Ted the Driver had shown me he spotted the leopard crossing the road.  Since most animals stick to pre-set hunting paths I wanted to be near to, but off of this big cats expected path to the Pitiao River.

   

I chanced flashing my headlamp around, damaging my night vision, but allowing me to find a big rock to hide alongside of.  The rock was surrounded by heavy underbrush and was positioned far enough off the road that I wouldn’t be visible to any passing cars. 

   

I sat down on the moist earth, turned off the headlamp and wiggled around to make a soft depression for the cold wait ahead of me.  My butt was comfortably wrapped in fleece and Goretex so the cold damp earth was only a minor annoyance.

   

Quietly I slipped the knit facemask and black balaclava down over my shiny white face.  I pulled the warm black fleece hood over that and then last of all I pulled on a pair of black Goretex gloves.  As I tugged the gloves on I realized I couldn’t see them.  Waving a hand around just inches from my face, I couldn’t see any movement.  I could feel the cold air moving, I knew the hand was there, but it was invisible.

    

Ten minutes later I tried waving my hand again.  Still nothing.  This night was so dark I could have been inside a cave.  Although I had taken a shower before leaving, using no soap or deodorant to give me a scent, I began to feel like an unfortunate goat staked out as leopard bait.

I now realized that tingling gnawing sensation that had been coursing up and down my spine for the last 40 minutes was fear.  Every little sound in the night was amplified.  Innocent sounds of mice carrying seeds to their nests were transmuted in my mind.  Every leaf rattle became the sound of a leopard paw brushing against a branch.  Every rustle of a nocturnal rodent going about his nightly chores became the sound of a leopard stalking closer to me.

   

I pushed my back hard against the rock that protected me from behind.  I held my hands in a Kung fu-like position in front of me, the better to stop the attacking leopard from clamping down on my raspy throat.  The night felt thick like chocolate pudding around me.

Stalking a leopard – Page six

The 8” wooden chopstick that I had taken from the dining room earlier that day and then patiently sharpened to a point on the concrete roadway, didn’t seem like much of a leopard deterrent anymore.  What was I thinking?  What rational person would think he could defend himself against a 150 pound snow leopard with just an 8” chopstick?

   

I had recently studied a poorly mounted leopard at the Wolong Panda Museum.  I could remember quite clearly the long and pointy teeth that leopards use when hunting serow, taiken, wild pig and the occasional stupid human leopard stalker. 

  

The night was quite cold by that time, but I could feel hot sweat trickling down my spine.  It was almost 10:30 PM.  A dozen leopards could already have passed me and I wouldn’t have seen them in the thick darkness that surrounded me.

  

So why was I still sitting there, huddled against the big cold rock?  I guess I was trying to prove to myself that I’m not afraid of the dark.  Whatever the reason I watched the white radioactive luminous hands of my wristwatch move to precisely 10:45. 

    

Suddenly, with no forethought I just stood up, turned on the headlamp and headed down the road toward the distant glow that was the Panda Inn.  I had no idea I was going to do that.  It was like spontaneous combustion.  One minute I was pressed against the big rock and the next I just began moving.  I didn’t run, not exactly, but that 35 minute uphill walk only took me 10 minutes going back down the hill.

  

The warm glow of the streetlights outside the Panda Inn was certainly a welcome sight.  As I entered the bright lights outside the Inn, I slowed my quick step to a casual saunter.  Before stepping inside the hotel lobby, I removed the black knit cap, the black balaclava, the black gloves and then placing a big smile on my face I opened the door and stepped into the welcoming warmth of the Panda Inn.

  

In the morning I casually mentioned to the group that I had gone out for a little walk the night before.  I told them it was too dark to see anything, so I gave up.  I left out the part about the funny tingling sensation running up and down my spine.  I guess I shortened the time that I said I was out there because I didn’t really want to admit that for a brief 2 hour period that night I had struggled with fear of the dark.  And I surely didn’t want to admit that I practically ran back to the hotel.

   

It’s good to see a scary movie once in a while.  I think it might even be therapeutic to scare yourself just a little bit in real life too. 

Following this first visit to the Wolong Panda Preserve I returned another 20 times before a horrendous earthquake devastated the Sichuan Province and destroyed most of the Wolong Panda Preserve.  On May 12, 2008 only three weeks after my last visit to the preserve in April, the massive earthquake struck.

Buildings were toppled, trees fell, boulders rolled onto roads and through building roofs and into the Pitaio river.  Mountainsides collapsed; the only road leading to the panda preserve was destroyed becoming nearly impassable. 

Some foreign visitors were trapped there for a brief time.  Some Chinese visitors and students on their way home from the preserve were killed or injured.  Five of the Wolong Panda Preserve staff died.  One panda, 9 year old Mao Mao the mother of five pandas, was killed when an enclosure wall fell on her.

This tragedy will be remembered for a long time to come.  Three years after the earthquake I finally convinced myself that I should re-visit Wolong.

But next year I think I’ll stalk that leopard from the passenger seat of a slow moving car while Ted steers us up the highway.

The End

by

Keith Jones

Sichuan Province, China

In Search of the Giant Wild Panda in the Qinling Mountains

A big hike in search of Wild Giant Pandas

The trip comments  below are from my Wild Panda search the week of July 20, 2006.  We can set this trip up for you, with a recommendation that you stay a minimum of 5 nights, but a full week is really advised.

    

Our trip really begins when we stop at a roadside inn for lunch.  Jane our very attractive

translator, leaves the table and slips into a room across from where we are eating.  She enters that room a stylish and classy Chinese woman who could be dressed for business most anywhere in the world.  She comes out dressed in military style camo clothing and heavy duty hiking boots.  She is now G.I. Jane.  

   

After lunch we drive up the narrow and winding mountain road another 30 minutes and then stop and begin unloading.  Several local people stand around the car waiting.  We have reached the trailhead.  Jane advises us that the local people will carry our packs.  At first I hesitate, then I decide to go along with the game plan they have laid out.  Later, I'm glad I let someone more accustomed to the elevation and steep trail carry my pack.  

The hike to the campsite takes about 6 hours.  We travel about 15 miles horizontally and make a vertical climb of 3,000 feet.  Much of the hike is exceedingly steep.  I'm really glad I took my own advice and worked out for a couple months on a treadmill while carrying a 50 pound pack.  

My good physical conditioning keeps me in the game all the way.  Even though I'm the oldest one along, by 18 years.  It turns out I'm the second oldest person they know to have made this climb.  I just refuse to believe that 58 is OLD.

Along the way we spot much wildlife including Takin and Jane's first view ever of the Golden Monkeys.  During our week in the mountains we spotted the following wildlife:

Golden Takin

Goral

Serow

rock squirrel

chipmunk

bamboo rat

vole

golden monkeys

It was a very good 5 days of wildlife viewing.  At the end of this article is a detailed mammal sighting list.

There were hundreds of birds.  Some species that stand out were the black pheasant, a sparrow hawk that was the only raptor we spotted, a bustard and so many different small species that flitted in and out of the bamboo, tracking our movements all the time.

We saw several poisonous snakes, no common name, but thankfully a species that is exceedingly shy and was always spotted slithering away into the bamboo.

There were at least a half dozen, maybe a dozen species of bee.  Some tiny ones that hovered and darted about and some really big fat black bumblebees. We also saw a cloud burst of fireflies one evening after dinner.  I hadn't seen fireflies since I was a young child.  They were only seen once.   

Also a shy ground squirrel nested a few yards from the cabin we stayed in.  He came out to eat leftovers that were rinsed from our pans and dishes.

    

Sleeping quarters were tight.  A raised sleeping area provided group sleeping accommodations for about 10 men during the time I was there.  The two women each had a room to themselves.  The door to the outside of our shack was ill fitted and made a horrendous squealing noise each time someone went in or out during the night.  Still, with earplugs and noise reducing headphones I slept very well.

   

Food was cooked and served family style from a couple of big pots.  The camp cook was quite good.  I was pleasantly surprised by his skill and his happy demeanor.  When I made a special request for low sodium, low fat food he just smiled and made me the exact same food as everyone else, but as I requested.

July 20, 2006:

   

Today we're hiking in a conifer forest whose trees are densely packed together.  There is a scattering of deciduous trees spread through the forest.  Beneath the trees, growing luxuriantly in the dark shade is the umbrella bamboo that these pandas love and thrive upon.  The umbrella bamboo is even more dense than the first two days of searching.

  

This dense growth of bamboo and overshadowing trees makes the forest eerily quiet.  The lush green growth sucks up every sound.  The damp and moist earth is a great sound deadener.

   

There are a dozen bee and fly species that constantly hover around us.  Sometimes landing upon us.  They are irritating, but in general don't bite or sting us.  The exception are the cow flies that sometimes bite and draw a drop of blood.  They are slow moving, hovering a few inches away, before choosing the tastiest piece of bare skin to draw blood from.

Moss, fungus and mushrooms grow everywhere.  There is so much moisture in the air that they grow beneath fallen trees, along the trail, in takin poop, and even high in the trees, where we spot some golden monkeys chowing down on the arboreal fungus.

     

I have seen more wildlife on this hike than I have seen on all of my other China trips combined.  There is takin spoor everywhere.  Panda poop is common and we regularly came upon signs of pandas that were only hours old.  

During this panda search only one live wild panda was spotted.  He was moving away and the guide in the lead position spotted his black and white butt waddling quickly into the dense bamboo as we approached.  Does this mean the trip was unsuccessful?  I don't think so.  I cannot guarantee panda sightings on this trek.  

It is difficult to spot them, not impossible and not unlikely, but also not a certainty.  The signs were all around us.  This location has the highest probability of a successful sighting of Giant Panda of any location in the world today.  Researchers regularly make this habitat their locale for study because of the high concentration of pandas here.

This is not an easy hike.  It is a rugged journey that shouldn't be undertaken by anyone not in reasonably good physical condition.  I'm 58 and overweight.  I worked out hard and diligently every day for two months before going and I was glad I had done so.  

To give some perspective to the difficulty level I took along two pair of long pants because I knew my clothing would be wet all the time.  I kept the dry pants for around camp and each morning would slide the slightly soggy, cold and very uncomfortable pants on.  These pants were specially purchased for this trip.  Quick drying, highly puncture resistant, hi-tech fabric that at the end of the trip were so tore up by the bamboo that I threw them away.

I am a veteran of hundreds of hikes and camping expeditions, so there were no surprises for me in terms of how difficult the hike was.  Nor were the living conditions unbearable.  We had a wood cabin to shelter us, which was certainly better than a tent.  The food was excellent and plentiful, which is all you can ask for on a mountain expedition such as this.  

We were accompanied by two extremely skilled trackers, Fung and Jung (pronounced young).  They slipped through the bamboo like ghosts, while I bulled my way through like a crazed Golden Takin.  During our search for wildlife Fung was first to spot the takin and the golden monkey, although I like to think I would have seen them first if I had been in the lead.  He was

quite talented at spotting animals.  Later, after Fung spotted the Golden Monkeys, I spotted both the black pheasant and a Serow first and so I redeemed myself.

    

My overall impression of the trip is that it is a truly fine adventure, but it is not for everyone.  You must be willing to live rough for a week and to hike a tough trail.  If you are up to that challenge, then this wild panda search will probably live in your memory as a top rated hiking adventure.

End

Gray Whale Babies - Getting Schooled

This is a continuation of my discussion about baby gray whales. The third article in the series...

Gray whale moms have a lot to teach their offspring before they head out into the open ocean on their northward journey.

The first training we notice inside the lagoons is the strengthening exercises the baby is put through as the mother whale swims against the incoming or outgoing tidal flow. She forces the baby to swim alongside her as he gains strength and stamina.

Next as the baby seemingly plays upon his mother, we notice she will raise up out of the water, causing the baby whale to lay upon her back. This is more serious training, although to the youngster it is just playtime. Learning to stay high upon his mother's back may be the one thing that saves him when a marauding orca pack attacks the mom and baby. His only place to hide, is upon his mother's back.

As the season progresses into mid-February a one or two day phenomenon will usually take place. I have written other times about the "baby breaching school", a time when mother whales seem to show their kid exactly how to jump. This training takes place at a time when most of the baby whales are strong enough to jump nearly clear of the water. This training is something rarely seen because it only occurs for a very brief time.


Another interesting training practice I see inside the lagoon generally takes place from mid-february on. This is when at one location near the bay entrance we see dozens of mother and baby whales surfing in the ocean break along the east shore of the entrance. The mothers actually swim with the baby against the breaking swells. This is serious physical conditioning and trains the young whale to swim and breathe in rough water conditions. I'm convinced those whales swimming in the surf will soon be leaving the lagoon to begin the long swim north.

That's all for this time!

About the Author:

Keith Jones is the founder of Baja Jones Adventures, Jones Adventures, Tigress Tours in Thailand and Butanding Tours in the Philippine Islands and has led thousands of people to Mexico and other interesting locations around the world. He specializes in gray whale tour, blue whale tour, gray and blue whale combo tour, giant panda bear tour, walk a tiger tour, shark tour, African safari tour, African gorilla trek, arctic narwhal tour and Magdalena Bay whale watching tour. He also writes about Baja travel and gray whales. Keith Jones is the author of Gray Whales My Twenty Years of Discovery.

Baby Gray Whales: Know A Bit More About Them

I know all of you get excited when you think about baby graywhales. Or at least i think you are probably interested in knowing some things about the babies that you might not read anywhere else (except in my book).

                                                  This is a young baby whale - mouth open

Baby gray whales are usually born beginning around mid-December through late January.

•The chance for survival is greatly enhanced if their mother can arrive at one of the Baja California, west coast nursery lagoons before she gives birth.

Just what are the survival chances for those newborn gray whales? Scientists have only been able make guesses – call them educated guesses based upon a wide range of observations – but still only guesses at this point in time.

The most widely accepted view of survival rates for gray whale babies at the end of one year is perhaps 80% to 90 % survive the first year if they are born inside one of the 3 major nursery lagoons.

That statistic flip-flops and is likely to be only a 10% to 20% survival rate for those unfortunate baby gray whales that are born in the open ocean while the mother is in the process of migrating south. 

                                        This baby gray whale is relatively young, perhaps 2 weeks.

Notice the uniform dark gray color. As the baby ages he will quickly develop light colored scar tissue all over his body from rubbing constantly against his barnacle clad mother. Her barnacles leave surface scratches that turn a lighter gray color.

Another characteristic of the very young gray whale is the shape of his head. Notice there is a hump like shape to the upper head in silhouette. A shape sometimes reminds me of a Chinese pug nosed dog.

I can tell this baby is more than a week old because the pre-natal folds of skin that hang around a newborn baby whale’s face, reminiscent of the breed of dog known as Sharpei, have already filled out. He has grown into those deep folds that are only visible during the first week or so after birth.

Another telling characteristic in this photo is the lack of barnacles. All gray whales begin developing barnacle growth almost as soon as they are born. After 2 weeks the young barnacles are obvious to the naked eye. In this photo I cannot see any developing barnacles.

My guess is this photo is of a baby whale between 7 and 15 days old.

Blue Whale Trip in the Sea of Cortez, Loreto

Sea of Cortez, Loreto,

Baja California Sur, Mexico

Written by: Keith Jones

About the Author:

Keith Jones is the founder of Baja Jones Adventures, Jones Adventures, Tigress Tours in Thailand and Butanding Tours in the Philippine Islands and has led thousands of people to Mexico and other interesting locations around the world. He specializes in gray whale tour, blue whale tour, gray and blue whale combo tour, giant panda bear tour, walk a tiger tour, shark tour, African safari tour, African gorilla trek, arctic narwhal tour and Magdalena Bay whale watching tour. He also writes about Baja travel and gray whales. Keith Jones is the author of Gray Whales My Twenty Years of Discovery.

March 2, 2011

8:30 a.m.: We departed from the Loreto harbor dock after waiting 30 minutes for the Marine Park Ranger to arrive at his office to sell us the park admission bracelets.  There was no wind and the ocean was dead calm.  The air temperature was about 70 degrees. Counting myself our group size was 13.   The group consisted of two English

citizens from Wales, 6 Americans from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maine, a couple from Argentina and a couple from France.  I’m from Southern California. We used three boats today.  The boats can hold 5 or six passengers comfortably, with three sitting in formed in place seats and three seated on the raised rear deck that

serves as a bench seat.  Fernando, my Blue Whale expert who has studied Blue whales off of Loreto for 20 years, took the lead with Luis and Tito captaining the other boats.

8:40 a.m.:  We spotted a mother and baby finback whale.  We watched this pair for 30 minutes.  During this time they dived 5 times.  On two occasions, between dives they

approached close to our boat and once the baby swam directly beneath our boat. 9:00 a.m.:  Spotted 2 more individual finback whales, but we chose to continue to follow the mother and baby. 9:15 a.m.:  Spotted multiple blows and decided it was time to leave the mother/baby pair.  We next stayed 20 minutes with a trio of adult finbacks.

9:35 a.m.:  We saw dolphins in the distance and chose to leave the 3 finback whales to go play with dolphins.  This was a pod of 50 to 100 common dolphins.  There were

several pods of dolphins about this same size in this area and we moved amongst them for one hour, enjoying their bow riding antics.  In all perhaps 500 to 1,000 dolphins were around us during this time. 10:30 a.m.:  Our boat captain suggested we go further south, to the end of Isla Carmen in hopes we might find a blue whale.   Our group was so engrossed in

the activity around us that nobody had asked me where the Blue whales were hiding.

11:00 a.m.:  We arrived at the south end of Isla Carmen and sighted a blue whale.  We were able to stay with this blue whale for an hour.  It was feeding and pretty much

ignored us.  But each time it dived our group played the guessing game of deciding where it would surface.  The captain of the boat I was in, Tito, would motor to where we guessed and then we would float for 5 to 15 minutes.  This blue whale stayed on the surface 3 to 5 minutes between dives and would then dive and

stay down 5 to 15 minutes.  After an hour the Blue whale simply disappeared.

12:10 p.m.:  The other boats called to us that everyone on board was hungry.  They directed us to their location, since we had become separated when my boat went to play with the dolphins.

Trip log

Page three

12:20 p.m.:  As we motored to the small island for lunch, we spotted 2 more finback whales.  Tito stopped and we watched them for five minutes.  When they dived, we left and continued to the lunch rendezvous.

1:15 p.m.:  Lunch ended and we started back toward the Loreto dock.  From this southerly end of Isla Carmen it is ALWAYS a long and bumpy ride north to Loreto.  Today was a great weather day and the swells were small, so the ride was relatively smooth.

1:35 p.m.:  We stopped to observe a humpback whale that sadly had a blue fish net snarled around its tail.  This whale was shy and after 5 minutes we parted ways.

1:50 p.m.:  Spotted two adult finback whales traveling and hunting together.  We watched them for a couple dives, about 20 minutes total before continuing north to Loreto.

3:30 p.m.:  Arrived back at the harbor in Loreto.

Tally of cetacean sightings:

Blue whales – 1 adult

Finback whales -  11 finback whales (one baby)

Humpback whales – 1 adult

Common dolphins – multiple pods, perhaps 500 to 1,000 for the day.

In addition to the whales, we saw many birds that included Blue footed boobies, Frigates, both brown and white Pelicans and at least 20 other species.  Today we also saw several seals and sea lions.

Guide comment:  During the day we were almost always following and watching whales with virtually no search time.  We had a total of 30 minutes boat time after leaving the dolphins before we came across the Blue whale.  It would be almost impossible to have a more whale packed day out here on the Sea of Cortez.

The population of Blue Whales staying near Loreto is estimated to be 12 to 15 this year, a good number.  Fernando has managed to identify half of these from past photos.  The Finback whale population is estimated around 50.  No estimate for Humpback whales.  Two Bryde’s whales have been identified.

After a day like this, all I have to say is I LOVE MY JOB!

This is only a one day trip log because I am usually leading our gray whale watching trips in Laguna Ojo de Liebre while my lucky guides get to enjoy the warm and scenic Sea of Cortez whale watching scene.  I had a day without gray whales, so I was able to go out with this group of 13!  A lucky whale watching number.

Keith

I always think of a diving whale’s tail as “The whale is saying goodbye”.  Because when whale watching at Laguna Ojo de Liebre this always means they are submerging and going off somewhere else, usually away from our boat.

Walking the Xian City Wall

About the Author:

Keith Jones is the founder of Baja Jones Adventures, Jones Adventures, Tigress Tours in Thailand and Butanding Tours in the Philippine Islands and has led thousands of people to Mexico and other interesting locations around the world. He specializes in gray whale tour, blue whale tour, gray and blue whale combo tour, giant panda bear tour, walk a tiger tour, shark tour, African safari tour, African gorilla trek, arctic narwhal tour and Magdalena Bay whale watching tour. He also writes about Baja travel and gray whales. Keith Jones is the author of Gray Whales My Twenty Years of Discovery.

I walk the City Wall during an all-day rainstorm, exploring and eventually growing bored on the oldest and best preserved City Wall in China.

Walking around the City Wall of Xian

Trip Log Xian, Shaanxi Province, China

July 24,

I arrived in Xian yesterday afternoon. The sky was cloudy and a light rain had fallen earlier that morning, even so the temperature was warm at around 30 C. or perhaps 85 degrees F. There had been some light rain during the day. This weather was cooler than expected. As we were driving to our hotel in the Center of the City of Xian, I was talking about the City of Xian and I mentioned to the group that the City Wall of Xian is the longest and best preserved city wall in China.

That’s when I decided my mini-adventure for the next day would be to walk all around the city wall. This city wall stands 12 meters high (just over 36 feet). It varies from 12 to 15 meters in thickness. The total length of the wall is 13.7 kilometers or about 8 miles.

I woke this morning, looked down from the 7th floor window of the Skytel Hotel and saw a sea of bobbing multi-colored umbrellas moving past the hotel. Rain! So much for a nice easy stroll around the city wall… There was a rhythm to the umbrella movement that was fascinating to watch. Almost like the currents and eddys of a slow moving river, I could follow the ebb and flow of the pedestrians hurrying to work on the sidewalks 100 feet below me.

But I was not to be put off by Grandfather Earth and his shenanigans. (You may remember that my last adventure included a brief stop at the roadside shrine where local Yaan folks speak short messages and small prayers to Tu Di Gong Gong.) I decided a little rain would not stop me from walking the city wall.

At 10:00 AM I left the hotel. I was wearing virtually the same walking outfit as when I walked a couple days ago from Bifengxia to Yaan except, I had on a light gray T-shirt rather than the bright red shirt and green instead of brown cargo shorts.

The hotel offered to lend me an umbrella, but I wanted to be able to just throw it or give it away if the rain stopped and I didn’t need to carry it. The South Gate is only a half kilometer from the hotel. I walked in that direction, stopping to purchase a light faded blue 10 Y ($1.50 US) collapsing umbrella at a street side newspaper vendor’s stall.

A light rain was falling. I was damp, but not really soaking wet. I approached the ticket booth and paid my 40 Yuan admission fee. This fee is good for one entrance only. If I were to leave the top of the wall and come down to the street level, then to return it would be another 40 Yuan.

A pair of steep stone stairways lead up to the top of the wall at the South Gate. I followed behind two Chinese tourist couples. The men walked ahead of the women. The two men wore business suits with white long sleeve dress shirts, modern patterned ties and shiny, recently polished, black leather dress shoes. The women were wearing expensive dresses and high heeled shoes that I thought might have been Manolo Blahniks. One was wearing jungle green stilts that looked like MB’s style Deci and the other had a less expensive pair of MB Lucy – Neo’s in Bright Yellow.

From the way these four were dressed I would say those shoes were not knock offs, but originals. Chinese professionals seldom if ever buy knock offs, but rather they like to sport the expensive original brands. The stilt like heels teetered and slid around on the uneven stone surface of the stairway. Those women were in danger of falling off the unprotected edge of the stairway. They held hands to steady one another as they stepped delicately up onto the top of the wall.

There to greet us as we stood on top of the wall was a vendor selling water and snacks beneath a canvas covered canopy. Like every Chinese tourist venue, this city wall had souvenir stands. This stand was manned (womaned?) by 3 bored looking girls, ages probably between 18 and 25. They had no customers and looked at the five of us hopefully.

The two Chinese couples began taking photos of one another as soon as they were up on top of the wall, while I stood there with a light rain dripping from my umbrella and debated with myself in which direction to travel. I finally let the wind and rain decide for me. I turned so the wind was blowing from behind me and with the rain striking only the back of my bare calves, I walked in a westerly direction.

The Xian City Wall has rampart projections that extend perpendicular to the wall and out away from the wall. These ramparts are spaced 120 meters apart all along the wall. Why 120 meters between them? Because half of that length (60 meters) is the distance that Ming Dynasty archers of the 14th century could shoot an arrow with accuracy. A squad of archers constantly manned each of the 98 ramparts. Should an enemy attempt to attack the wall, a barrage of arrows could be let loose on every square foot of the exterior face of the wall.

The individual quarried stones are grayish brown granite that has weathered the years with hardly a sign of aging. The pavers are nicely set, but I suspect all of the paving was removed, cleaned and then reset, because the walking surface is smooth and easy to use.

The original city wall was built more than 2,000 years ago; renovations and additions began during the Tang Dynasty around 600 AD. During the Ming Dynasty the wall was enlarged to the current size and shape beginning around 1375 AD. More recently the City administrators decided in 1983 to do another restoration of the wall, which included a massive landscaping

project around the outside of the wall.

Now those 98 archers ramparts have been converted to vending stalls. Yes, they look like the stone ramparts of old, but inside where archers once slept and where bows and arrows once sat in racks waiting for an invader to approach, are now nestled various businesses. Bicycle rental shops, snack shops and even some restaurants are housed within the stone buildings.

But for me, the top of the wall was amazingly lonesome. Those two couples shot a dozen photos, then walked back down the stairs. As I walked west, I realized that I was the only tourist on top of the wall. Occasionally a solitary worker wearing a thin plastic raincoat would pass me.

Did I mention that the rain never did stop while I was out walking? All day I carried the umbrella in my left hand. Now and then I would stop, pull the small digital camera from my right pocket and take a snapshot or two. Then I would walk again.

I kept this boring pace around the top of the wall for about one hour. When I arrived at the West Gate I couldn’t take it anymore and decided I needed to get down on the street where I could find some people to talk to. After all, you all know that I HATE TO HIKE. I just do these long walks to see new sights and strange places. I walk to have the opportunity to talk to some local people, not drive past them at 100 kilometers an hour.

Coming down from the wall was the best decision I made all day. As I got to the bottom of the wall, the raindrops got larger and the wind blew faster. Instead of just my bare calves being wet, now the shorts were getting rained on. I couldn’t find a good angle to hold the umbrella to keep the rain away. A 10 Yuan umbrella isn’t such good quality and every time a strong gust of wind blew, the umbrella would collapse to an inverted funnel shape. The heavy rain soon had me quite wet.

Thankfully at the bottom of the wall, across the busy street, there was a small tea shop waiting it seemed, just for me. I stepped inside, wet and bedraggled. The quick drying hi-tech fabric T-shirt was thoroughly soaked with rain water. The heavy cotton denim like cargo shorts were waterlogged. My Columbia Birke hiking shoes are waterproof and so my feet were dry, but the low top socks were wet and cold around my ankles.

The tea shop had no air conditioning, for which I was thankful. A smiling and stylishly made up tea server, wearing a muted beige cheongsam accented with painted pink cherry blossoms, brought me a menu, then she stood beside my table smiling while I looked at the incomprehensible menu, written only in Mandarin.

For those of you who don’t know what a cheongsam is, let me describe this dress. Developed originally by Manchu nationals as attire for both men and women, the qipao (pronounced cheepow) as it was called in the 17th century, was transformed during the qing dynasty into a tighter fitting, sexier dress. Then in the flapper period of the 1920s the dress style transitioned to the current form, with a sinuously tight fit and a long slit up the side to expose the woman’s thigh as she walked. The dress became well known to the Western World because of the movie, The World of Suzie Wong. Now the cheongam is most commonly worn by waitresses and tea servers.

Anyway, after I stared blankly at the menu for a couple minutes I wised up, stood up and walked to the rear of the shop where the various tea leaves are stored in jars and bins. The serving girl followed me, her cheongsam flashing brief views of her shapely leg from within the confines of the form hugging dress.

I studied the tea leaves and eventually pointed to a particularly dark green leafy variety. She understood and with a smile began to brew me a pot of that nice green tea. I relaxed in the tea shop for 30 minutes while outside the heavy rain slowed to a light drizzle. That was my cue to start walking again.

Paying 25 Yuan (about $4) for the pot of tea, I continued my walk, now heading north along the wall. I was now on the inside of the City Wall. While sipping tea I had decided that to fulfill my goal for the day, I would walk on the city streets parallel to the wall, but that I must try to keep the wall in sight most of the time. This would, in my mind, count as having walked around the City Wall of Xian. Life should not be boring, but up on top of the wall, even with the wind gusting to about 25 mph and rain keeping me soaked to the skin, everything was endlessly repeated over and over. The parapet and crenellations continuing all along the wall had soon just emphasized how boring a solitary walk on a rain swept wall can become. The expected throngs of Chinese tourists that add interest to my China walks had all stayed inside on this rain swept day.

Now walking along beside the wall, I tried to keep to the most interesting streets. Sometimes I would lose sight of the wall for a block or two. When that happened, I would simply turn left at the next cross street and walk until I found the wall again. Because I was walking around the city wall in a clockwise fashion, it was easy to keep track of where the wall was, by just turning left if I lost sight of the wall.

At 1:30 PM I arrived back at the South Gate. Still, I wasn’t finished walking. I had more energy to burn, so I took the main road leading from the South Gate north to the Bell Tower, about 1 kilometer away. There in the Bell Tower Square I rewarded myself with a Starbuck’s coffee break. The large drink (Venti size even in China) that I ordered cost 35 Yuan ($5.25 US)!

The inside of this Starbuck’s is cool and dry. I found a soft comfortable chair and settled into the plush cushion. Sipping hot mocha I contemplated the foot massage that I planned to indulge in later. Life is interesting, wet or dry. As the Johnnie Walker whiskey ads here in Asia say “Just keep walking”!

The End

Keith Jones

Writing from Xian, China

July 24, 2010