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The Last Outpost

Click image to enlarge
© Ron Geatz/The Nature Conservancy
Firewood
© Ron Geatz/The Nature Conservancy
Tibetan Woman with Child
© Ron Geatz/The Nature Conservancy
Mekong River
© Ron Geatz/The Nature Conservancy
Meili Mountain
© Ron Geatz/The Nature Conservancy
Bio-gas Greenhouse

DAY 8
The six-hour drive to Deqin (pronounced deh-chin), the last town before the Tibetan border, is gut-wrenching! After crossing the Yangtze (here, called the Jinsha River), the road disintegrates into an endless series of unpaved hairpin turns with barely room for two vehicles to pass. There are no guard rails between us and a thousand-feet drop-off and evidence of recent landslides are plentiful. But the views are amazing—from lush, forested mountainsides to stark moonscapes above the treeline, to arid, eroded Georgia O'Keeffe-like vistas. The isolated villages nestled in the valleys or hugging the cliffs are what remind me of Shangri-la. The occasional swathe of timber clear-cuts is heartbreaking, although government decree brought that to an end after the severe flooding of the Yangtze in 1997-98. Although, commercial logging is no longer the greatest threat to the forests; firewood gathering accounts for 80 percent of forest depletion.

DAY 9
Deqin is a Tibetan town of 7,000 people and the administrative center for this remote region. The Conservancy's Bob Moseley has set up shop here, the only foreigner in town, and the locals are quite proud to have him. Bob, his local staff and his Yunnan government colleagues are developing innovative ways to cut the local dependence on firewood. In villages along the Mekong River (here called the Lancang), methane derived from human and livestock waste (called bio-gas) can supply much of the villagers' cooking fuel. And fuel-efficient stoves and solar collectors can cut firewood needs by up to 50 percent, also easing the hardship on the villagers. We depart with Bob's Yunnan counterpart, Yu Xiangqian, who stops at a Buddhist shrine to pay respects to Meili—the holy snow-capped mountain that dominates the landscape. We add our incense and prayer flags to the growing tribute. After descending into the valley, we hike across a footbridge to Liutongjiang where these forest-saving methods are being tested on a village-wide scale. Mr. Yu joins us for a traditional Tibetan hot-pot dinner, and after numerous toasts, treats us to a heartfelt Tibetan song that leaves us in awe.

DAY 10
After a night without electricity and a morning of icy showers, we visit a school on the edge of town where an alternative energy demonstration project is underway. A new building with a bio-gas set-up and solar panels will cut the use of fuel-wood and heat a greenhouse to provide fresh vegetables for the students and their resident teachers. Land and energy conservation will be incorporated into the curriculum. The students are mostly boarders from the region's isolated villages, and it's hoped that they will export their conservation education back to their villages. Before departing Deqin, we buy prayer wheels from a Tibetan shopkeeper to spin on the hair-raising drive back to Zhongdian. On our way back, we stop at an idyllic Buddhist monastery nestled among the mountains. The monks see few Western visitors and are intrigued by my beard, Noelle's blonde hair and our digital cameras.



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