Qiannan Prefecture
– The Land That Time Forgot

Sitting below the canopy of a towering Kmeria septentrionalis Dandy tree, I remembered a poem by the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso:

See me or not,

I am always here,

Not gleeful, nor rueful.

Think of me or not,

My love is always here,

Never going this way or that.

Passing down the Shui writing.

The Maolan National Forest Reserve in Libo sees the four features of the karst forest brought out in spectacular display: trees surviving – and thriving – between bedrock, up through sinkholes, out of streams and in underground caverns. The 20,000 hectares of lush green on the otherwise lifeless rocky terrain stand testament to the ability of nature to thrive in seemingly impossible conditions.

The Xiaoqikong area of the reserve is the prime location to see the “woods on the water.” Normally trees can’t survive in rivers, but several elements collaborate in Xiaoqikong to create exceptional circumstances. The forests in the area originally grew out of soil, before being flooded by water from underground caves of soluble rock. The calcium carbonate in the water, at high concentration, soon accumulated and formed a crust around the roots, protecting them from being “drowned.” It’s almost as if the trees are wearing rubber boots.

Shui characters look much like the oracle bone script.

The Wangpai Peak is home to a stretch of “funnel forest.” The funnel is a 400-meter-deep cone-shaped hollow, the walls of which are covered in dense foliage. Looking down from the top of the peak into the hollow, the depth is startling.