Tangjiahe Nature Reserve Travel Guide

Tangjiahe Nature Reserve is a protected area of nature located by the northeast of Minshan Range in Guangyuan of Sichuan Province, bordering Gansu by its north and Sha'anxi Province by its east. Tangjiehe Nature Reserve and its sorrounding area is home to wild animals including Giant Pandas, Golden Snub-nose Monkeys, Takins, Red Pandas, Leopard Cat, Chinese Monal, different deers, etc. Tangjiahe is home to as many as 430 different vertebrate, 2400 different plants. It is one of the best places in China to watch wild life.

Tangjiahe Nature Reserve

What Animals to See in Tangjiahe

Giant Panda

The number of giant pandas in Tangjiahe is estimated to be around 60 in total. Giant pandas mainly live by the elevation between 1600m and 3600m forest where arrow bamboos grow. Most of the panda active places in Tangjiahe are without car access and are at higher elevation places in Tangjiahe deep mountains. There are two valleys that lead to the deep mountains in Tangjiahe are off-limits for visitors and only allow very small amount of people who have special interest(wildlife researchers, wildlife photographors) to go in with special permits.

Wild Panda in Tangjiahe Nature Reserve

Golden Snub-nose Monkeys

The number of golden snub-nose monkesy in Tangjiahe is estimated to be around 1200 in total and growing. These monkeys mainly live by the elevation between 1200m and 3500m in forest. They can be as low as where the roads are. During summer time they stay higher by above 2500m and during winter they move down to around 1500m or lower for food. There are at present 7 major golden sunb-nose monkey groups in Tangjiahe, each group has around 150 monkeys.

Golden Snub-nose Monkeys

Takins

The number of golden snub-nose monkesy in Tangjiahe is estimated to be around 1000 in total. Takins are unique species in Hengduan Mountain Range. They live in forest, open highland grassland and bushes. They migrate in different seasons and have a large area to wonder. Takins normally live by the elevation between 2000m and 3400m in forest in either small herds of 3-5 or in big herds of 10-45. In winter they form bigger herds as many as 130 together.

Other Wild Animals

Macaques are one of the easiest animal to see in Tangjiahe as they often search food from humans. Macaques live by elevation between 1400m and 3600m in Tangjiahe. They often feed on leaves, berries, insects, birds and bird eggs, human kitchen wastes.

Black Bear is one of the usually seen animals in Tangjiahe. They live by the elevation between 1400m and 3600m and feed on nuts, fruits and sometimes steal honey from local farmers.

Golden Cat is a medium-sized feline animal with a body length of 90 centimeters, a tail length of 50 centimeters, and a weight ranging from 12 to 20 kilograms. The quantity is unknown. It is estimated to be around 40-60.

Yellow Throated Marten inhabits various forest types at an altitude of 1400-3100 meters and nests in tree or stone caves. The are active in morning and evening, eat rodents, as well as small animals, and even hunting medium-sized ungulates such as deer, muntjacs, and musk deer together.

Chinese Serow inhabits mountainous areas with dense forests and sometimes bare rocks at an altitude of 1400-3800m. They are active in the morning and evening, and during daytime resting under high mountain overhanging rocks or in caves. Serows are aolitude animals. They feed on weeds and the branches and leaves of woody plants, as well as a small amount of fruits. Chinese Serows are called "mountain donkey" due to their relatively large size by local people. It is famous for the white-colored fur on its back neck.

Yellow Muntjac inhabits environments such as forest and grass below an altitude of 2300m. There are many yellow mintjak in Tangjiahe.

Chinese Muntjac Deer inhabits in valleys, forests, and shrubs with a high altitude of 1000-3000m, where there are many shrubs, bamboo groves, and grass. Be good at concealment and engage in the most frequent activities in pairs at dusk. They feed on various grasses.

Macaque

Tangjiahe Wildlife

The other wild animals also include hog badger, masked civet, cloud leopard, etc.

Different Birds

Tangjiahe is also a good place to watch birds. Birds in Tangjiahe include Chinese Monal, Blood pheasant, tragopan temminckii, koklass pheasant, golden pheasant, laughing thruses, tits, magpies, minivets, etc.

How to Get to Tangjiahe

Tangjiahe Nature Reserve is located in Qingchuan County of Guangyuan in northern Sichuan Province. It borders by its north to Gansu Province by Wenxian County of Longnan. It borders by its west to Pingwu County of Mianyang, of which it forms together a big part of the giant panda nature reserve in China by the east foot hill of Minshan Range between Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau.

Tangjiahe is 300km north to the city of Chengdu that by driving it takes 4 hours to reach. From the nearest city Guangyuan from its airport to get to Tangjiahe by driving it takes 2 hours. From Tangjiahe to Pingwu it takes 2 hours by driving for 100km distance. The road into Tangjiahe was once troubled by frequenet landslide but now with the new expressway connects directly to Qingxi Town that saves not only time by driving but also makes it safer to drive. If one is taking bus then can get to Pingwu County first and then use local car to get to Tangjiahe. There is also fast train that goes to Qingchuan from Chengdu or Xi'an and from Qingchuan Railway station one can use local car to get to Tangjiahe.

Travel Season

Tangjiahe in Summer

Most international travelers and many of the domestic visitors to Tangjiahe are aming to see wild animals here. The usual wild animal watching season is from late autumn to early spring each year when the cold temperature and snow drive down the animals to look for food at lower altitude. In general the highest chance to see wild panda in Tangjiahe is in March and April. Higher chance to see golden snub-nose monkeys are in November to the next March. Takins are easier to see from October to the next May. To watch birds the best season is from May to June. Deers, bears, macaques can be seen in different seasons.

In every October it is the "golden foliage" season in Tangjiahe that it will attact visitors here to see the yellow and red tree leaves of forest in Tangjiahe.

In general we recommend you to travel to Tangjiahe in winter spring time from December to March/April to have higher chance of seeing more animals. Please send your inquiries to us if you are keen on seeing one specific animal, we will suggest the best season and location in Tangjiahe. Morning and evening are the best time of a day to watch wild animals in Tangjiahe.

Entrance Tickets and Transfers within the Park

The entrance ticket to Tangjiahe costs CNY55 per person. Then plus a golf car costs CNY60 per person. Normally private cars can not drive in to the reserve of Tangjiahe and day visitors can only use the golf car from the reserve to get around the reserve. If you plan to stay multiple days in Tangjiahe, we recommend you to stay inside the reserve where there is a decent hotel Sen Ye Mei Su (the only Hotel in the reserve) that allows private cars to drive in as long as you stay by this hotel. This will give you much flexibility of where you can go/stop inside the reserve as you want (except the north valley to Motianling where one has to use the park golf car due to safety issues) for better timing/watching the wild animals. Because the golf car only starts to run by 8am and stops to run by 5pm, which may be either too late or too early for animal watching.

Map of Tangjiahe Nature Reserve

Planning Ideas and Suggestions

Depending on your objectives, you can plan a trip in Tangjiahe as long as you want. Normally we suggest you to have at least 2 days time inside the reserve to have suffient time for searching animals. If you are keen to find any specific animal then may need to plan for longer time because despite Tangjiahe being one of the best places to watch wild animals in China it will still take time to search for them at the best locations given the uncertainty of wild animal habits, dense forest. In general the chance of seeing wild panda is very low, and the chance of seeing takins is very high.

The best locations to see wild pandas in Tangjiahe is at Motianling by the higher part of the trail in mid/late March and early April. You may have a chance of seeing pandas resting on trees but the chance is very low and may require huge patience. This is the only place that one can walk to within a hours in Tangjiahe. The other place one may see pandas is by multiple locations at higher part of Hongshihe Valley that is off limits to visitors and only with special permits after application then you are allowed to go in with local guides and it requires multiple days of hiking and sleeping in tents that the chance to see pandas is still not ganrauteed.

Tangjiahe Panda Habitat Map

The best locations to see golden snub-nose monkeys is Shuichiping in the west valley. However this place is off limits to visitors and anyone who plans to go in there needs to apply for special permits to go in. In winter time there is a feeding place for golden snub-nose monkeys near Shuichiping that the chance of seeing them is high. But this requires visitors to apply for special permits before hand. Another place that may also have golden snub-nose monkey is near Motianling that doesn't require special permits to go but the chance is low.

Mo Tian Ling

All wild animals are not kept within any encloser since this is a free land of nature reserve that animals run around searching for food and shelter so it is not garauteed that by each good locations you will definately see animals. This is why you are suggested to stay stay multiple days inside the reserve and recommend you to stay by the hotel inside the Tangjiahe Reserve to have better timing for animals.

We (Sichuan Travel Guide) can assist on book the hotel inside the reserve, applying for the special permits (need to do 15 days prior) to go further into the wild valley and arrange for logistics and transfers for you. Please send your inquiry to us.

Food and Accommodations

For travelers that are aming to see animals in Tangjiahe, we recommend you to use the hotel inside the reserve. For day visitors we recommend you to stay outside the reserve since there are more options on different levels of hotels that are usually not overpriced. The small town outside of Tangjiahe Reserve is called Qingxi Old Town, a small town (or village) that is located by the riverside of Qingzhu River, provides different levels of hotels and plenty of restaurants and shops to supply to travelers. Qingxi Town has an elevation of 1000m. There is a 4-star(or 5-star) hotel Jinjiang Hotel that is very comfortable to stay in Qingxi Town.

Tangjiahe Travel Guide

Other Information and Suggestions

The old town of Qingxi is very small but worth to spend 20 minutes to have a look while you are there. The nearby Pingwu Shuijing has a place of Golden Snub-nose Monkeys that is only 2 hours drive away. If you have limited time to wait for golden snub-nose monkeys in Tangjiahe that you may consider to include Shuijing of Pingwu to ganrautee you will see them.

The path to Motianling requires 2 hours of walking up on paved stairs to the highest point. The trail up was part of the Yinping Ancient Shu Roads dated back to over 1800 years ago. Motianling was also part of a civil war battle field in 1940s.

Tangjiahe Qingxi Old Town

There is also a rafting place in Tangjiahe with mild water currents that visitors with children can consider to do.

We provide customize tours to Tangjiahe and Pingwu, please send your inquires to us.