Travelling to Zhangjiajie
One of the newest favourites as a China tourist destination is Zhangjiajie in the Hunan Province which has successfully blended natural resources of green mountains and clear waters with the government’s drive for more infrastructures. The scenic city offers a lot of attractions for visitors which focuses on pristine natural forests and waters. The tourists are drawn to the unique sandstone pillars which do not fail to awe the visitors or overwhelm the camera lens.
Probably the most famous of these tourist attractions is the Baofeng Lake, just one of the many places that has been dubbed the Scenic Areas and honoured by the UNESCO World Heritage list for the preservation of natural flora and fauna. It is found at the back of the Mount Baofeng and is about 274 hectares wide composed of the Baofeng Lake and the Yingwo Stockaded Village.
There are innumerable pinnacles rising from the ground shaped like huge bamboo shoots pointing to the sky that are a sight to behold.
Then there is the Yellow Dragon Cavern, a cave of Karst category made up of limestone materials which have developed fissures and underground streams. The cave has been mapped up to 15 kilometres long and 140 high so far, about 48 hectares. There are two parts to the cavern, the caves which lead to other caves and those found inside caves themselves. It is as mysterious as the land that it is set on and it is an underground adventurer’s dream.
There is also the Wulingyuan Scenic Area made up of the Zhangjiajie Tianzi Mountain, the Shuoxiyu and the Yangjia Boundary. It is now listed as a world legacy and a world geology park. This has a spectacular landscape with the sandstones, deep and dense forests and deep ravines. It is a fairy tale mountain that could only be best described in the fairy tale books.
Despite being a natural reserve, Zhangjiajie is a lure for thousands of tourists from around the globe. And although some people may complain about the tours given in the area, most of the complaints are on the short length of time spend getting lost in nature, and that is by itself, a compliment to the area.