Caohai Lake Viewing Area 草海开放观景区

About Caohai Lake Viewing Area

The reserve lies in the heart of the Wumeng range in the central Yunnan-Guizhou plateau, on the watershed between Xiliangshan and the Wumeng mountains and ringed by hills, at an elevation of about 2,200 metres. Its stated objects of protection are the Caohai plateau wetland ecosystem and the rare birds represented by the black-necked crane, and it is classed as an inland wetland and water ecosystem reserve. It covers 120 square kilometres in all, of which 29.07 square kilometres is wetland. Caohai was made a provincial comprehensive nature reserve in 1985 and raised to national level in 1992, and it belongs to the China Biosphere Reserve Network of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme.

The reserve records 2,600 biological species and 248 bird species, eighteen of them new records for Guizhou. By November 2024 the number of nationally first-class protected species wintering there had risen from seven in 2005 to thirteen, and second-class protected species from twenty-one to forty. Over the 2024-2025 winter the black-necked crane count rose sharply, with common cranes, black storks and bar-headed geese also increasing, and more than 100,000 birds in all wintered in the reserve once its woodland birds and other migrants were counted; in January 2026 the wintering black-necked cranes were reported at 2,847. The forestry administration's account puts this down to the setting: Caohai has a subtropical monsoon climate with mild winters, which it says keeps large areas of the lake from freezing, and its water is rich in plankton, benthos and aquatic plants, with more than 100 species of phytoplankton and more than 80 of zooplankton recorded.

What to look for

• The black-necked cranes, the species the reserve was set up around, counted at 2,847 birds in January 2026.
• The other wintering birds listed with them — common cranes, black storks and bar-headed geese.
• The 29.07 square kilometres of wetland within the reserve's 120 square kilometres.
• The ring of hills around the lake and the plateau setting at about 2,200 metres.

Location & getting there

Getting to Caohai Lake Viewing Area

Check the open visitor route and follow the site’s rules on distance, food and photography. Conservation areas may limit access beyond designated paths.

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