Crested Gibbon Goes to China

I just got back from an amazing trip to Yunnan China. My Dad came to visit me and we flew from Vientiane to Kunming. Kunming is the only city that Lao Airlines flies direct to in China. Our plan was to spend some time in Kunming and then take the bus down to Dali so I could meet the black crested gibbon researcher Fan Peng Fei , plus some other staff from Flora & Fauna International (FFI) China.

We got to Kunming and were surprised at how few people in China speak English. We came pretty unprepared with no maps, no guidebooks, and no knowledge of Chinese except for “Nee-how”. After much deliberation we managed to get a taxi to our hotel, check in, and go to look for food in the city. The best thing about Yunnan Province right now is the weather. It is spring time and the weather was absolutely perfect every day we were there. It was so great to actually wear pants and a long sleeve shirt for once.

We took the bus to Dali. Apparently we were lucky to get tickets since a major bank holiday is about to begin where a lot of people travel and the buses fill up quickly. The bus took about 5 hours and cost 120 Yuan ($19 US) for the expensive bus which apparently has a little more leg room than the other buses. The old town of Dali is surrounded by a wall and is apparently the cradle of Yunnan culture. In 1000 AD it was one of the largest cities in the world. We stayed at the Dali Mountain Delights Hotel which turned out to be perfect since the owner Steve is British and his partner Ling is from Hong Kong. They helped us tremendously since we would have had a lot of trouble getting around with our lack of Chinese.

Fan showed me around Dali University where he is now a professor, apparently one of the youngest in China at 31! Fan studied the ecology of black crested gibbons in China for his PhD dissertation. His papers are some of the only ones published on crested gibbons so I reference him a lot. He now studies the Cao Vit crested gibbon and Hoolock gibbons in Yunnan in addition to the black crested gibbon research which continues at his original site. He also did a survey for the white cheeked crested gibbons which supposedly still exists in China but he found nothing. He said he thinks they are likely extinct in Yunnan which is very sad and means that white cheeked gibbons are only left in Laos and Vietnam. Fan showed me all of the gorgeous gibbon photos he and Zhao have taken over the years. They also took us to an incredible traditional Chinese lunch which included Dali’s famous fried goat cheese. Next time I come to China Fan says he will be able to take me to his research sites to see gibbons. I am sure we will be working together in the future on gibbon conservation ecology projects and I am really looking forward to it.

My Dad and I decided we would do the Cloud Traveler’s Path hike in the Cangshan Mountains. You can take the gondola up to the top and the get on a path along the mountains. Unfortunately we did not realize how long the trail is. Once you start you have to keep going so we ended up hiking around 15 km (9 miles), 3 km of which were stairs! We had planned to hike for around 2 hours which turned into more than 5 hours. The town of Dali is already at 2300 meters so up in the mountains we were very short of breath at 2600 meters! Needless to say we were utterly exhausted. My legs are still sore!

Overall we had a wonderful time in China, made some new friends, and learned a lot about Yunnan culture. I was pleasantly surprised by the cleanliness, spaciousness, and organization of Dali and Kunming. The bus ride was much more tolerable than buses I have taken in Laos and Vietnam. Our biggest problem was trying to communicate since most people don’t speak English. Also in contrast to the cleanliness of streets, paths and trails, the bathrooms were pretty gross. I will never forget peeing into a trough with a line of women and no privacy.

I can’t wait to come back to China and do some more exploring and see some wild Chinese gibbons.