Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve 黄河口

About Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve

Its wetlands support migrating birds and breeding species such as the Oriental stork. Public visits use the designated Yellow River Estuary Eco-tourism Area, where a willow-boardwalk route and bird interpretation help explain this habitat. Yuanwang Tower gives a broader view of the river landscape. River-mouth boat trips and wildlife sightings depend on conditions rather than following a guaranteed spectacle.

The delta's wetlands formed through silt deposited by the Yellow River, creating a large and growing delta with one portion around the current river mouth and another near a former mouth. The area became widely settled only in the 20th century, when discovery of the Shengli Oil Field brought major economic activity and the city of Dongying was founded in 1983. Economic activity and inland agriculture that lowered the river's water levels degraded the wetland ecosystem, leading to the reserve's full designation in 1992.

The reserve is managed as a core area with a high level of protection, together with buffer and experimental zones that allow greater human activity. Its wetlands are important for breeding bird populations and for birds migrating along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway and the West Pacific Flyway, hosting the largest breeding population of the protected Oriental stork and forming crucial habitat for Saunders's gull and the Siberian crane.

Because of geographic and hydrological factors, the Yellow River Delta is the only delta of a major river in China that is not the heart of an immense megalopolis, unlike the Pearl River Delta and the Yangtze River Delta. The reserve also serves as a site for research and tourism, with one attraction being the 'carpet' of red Suaeda salsa plants that forms in autumn.

What to look for

• Wetland habitats shaped by Yellow River sediment, including reeds, willows and salt-tolerant plants.
• Birdlife interpretation and the river outlook from Yuanwang Tower.

Location & getting there

Getting to Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve

Use the Yellow River Estuary Eco-tourism Area visitor approach at Dawenliu in Kenli District, Dongying. Enter through the designated tourist gateway and follow its transport arrangements between wetland stops; a nature-reserve boundary point is not a visitor entrance.