Gesala Eco-Tourism Area 格萨拉生态旅游区

About Gesala Eco-Tourism Area

The area sits where Sichuan meets Yunnan: Guosheng township of Yanbian County lies to its east, Huaping County of Lijiang in Yunnan to its south and west, and Yanyuan County of Liangshan prefecture to its north. Differential uplift during the Quaternary threw up a scarp tens of kilometres long along the Yankou-Waluo line, which divides the area into two landform units. Above the scarp lies a high-mountain and hilly plateau between 2,600 and 3,300 metres in which sky-holes, dolines and solution caves have developed; below it a mid-mountain gorge zone between 1,500 and 2,600 metres, where gorges and waterfalls dominate. Within more than 300 square kilometres around Yankou and Waluo there are over 1,000 sinkholes of varying diameter and depth, the larger about 5,000 square metres in area and some 30 metres deep, the smaller about 400 square metres. The No. 1 sky-hole, below a cliff of more than 200 metres, is about 155 metres deep and has five solution caves of different sizes around it, among them Lingze cave, whose formations carry names such as the Guanyin hall, the arhat group, the camel peak and the lion hill.

The scenic area's own directory entry lists its main natural features as rhododendron over a wide area, old-growth forest, natural parkland, the sky-holes and dolines, a stone forest, underground solution caves and rolling alpine meadow. Mountains are high and valleys deep, vegetation is dense and wild plants and animals are varied; rhododendron, twisted pine woods, alpine meadow and Yi custom are named together as what characterises the place. The area is one of Yi settlement, and in the Yi language Gesala is glossed as a beautiful paradise where people and nature live in harmony. The bureau's 2022 entry places the area in the townships of Yankou, Waluo, Wenquan and Qinghe, while its January 2025 entry gives Gesala township; both stand on the same official site and neither is preferred here.

What to look for

• The sinkhole field around Yankou and Waluo: more than 1,000 dolines within some 300 square kilometres.
• The No. 1 sky-hole, about 155 metres deep beneath a cliff of more than 200 metres.
• Lingze cave, one of five solution caves around the No. 1 sky-hole, with formations named after a Guanyin hall, an arhat group, a camel peak and a lion hill.
• The rolling alpine meadow and the twisted pine woods named among the area's natural features.
• The rhododendron, named first among the area's natural features.

Location & getting there

Getting to Gesala Eco-Tourism Area

Check weather, trail access and the last return service. A mountain or forest area is not one entrance, and a map’s central pin may be far from the trailhead.

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