World of fantasy – Shilin Stone Forest – UNESCO World Heritage Site
N 24°46'19.7'' E 103°17'02.9''
Date:
19.05.2016
Day: 327
Country:
China
Province:
Yunnan
Location:
Shilin
Latitude N:
24°46’19.7”
Longitude E:
103°17’02.9”
Total kilometers:
16,981 km
Maximum height:
1.900
Total altitude meters:
39.015 m
Sunrise:
06:21 am
Sunset:
7:45 pm
Temperature day max:
27°C
Temperature day min:
17°C
Departure:
09:30 a.m.
Arrival time:
5:00 pm
(Photos of the diary entry can be found at the end of the text).
“Shall we go?” asks Tanja. “I don’t know. Looks like rain,” I reply, glancing out of the window. “Do you want to stay another day?” “Absolutely not. I think we should use the time to get as close to the border as possible. You never know what can come up. That’s what the angle we’ve opened has shown us.” “Well then, we should set off for the stone forest now and who knows, maybe the sun will show itself after all,” Tanja replies.
20 minutes later, we are on a bus heading towards the Steinwald forest, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2007. “We have to get out of here,” I say, jumping up to the door of the bus and pressing the button. “Bu”, (No) says the driver, shaking his head. Sitting down again, I ask myself how he even knows where we’re going. “Sure, we look like tourists and what are foreigners going to visit in this area?” I think to myself. “You can get off here,” says the driver a few kilometers further on and opens the door of the bus.
For 25 yuan (€3.38) per person, an open electric vehicle takes us to the entrance. There, every visitor has to pay another 175 yuan (€23.64) to be admitted to the karst landscape. “I hope the park is worth the money,” I say, standing in front of a forest of signs that raises a few question marks, as we don’t want to miss anything in the twelve square kilometer area. “I would follow one of the guides,” says Tanja. “Hm, not a bad idea,” I agree with her, which is why we follow in the footsteps of two Chinese men and their colorfully dressed guide from the Yi people. After just a few hundred meters, the sight of the bizarre rock needles almost leaves us breathless. “Unbelievable,” I say and can’t stop taking pictures. “Denis, hurry, our guide has long since moved on,” Tanja warns me not to linger too long at each of the extraordinary rock formations. “Where are they?” I ask. Then I spot father and son with their pointed straw hats, which are actually worn here by rice farmers and, of course, tourists. “Was this landscape once under water?” wonders Tanja, pointing to the coral-like formations hanging from the rock faces. We learn that the geological origin of the stone forest lies in a sea that has now disappeared. 300 million years ago, the limestone formations under seawater and volcanic lava formed into bizarre rock needles. Then, due to shifts in the earth’s crust, this region rose out of the water and became land. This gave rise to a geological legend.
As we wander through the world of mythical creatures and figures of the gods, at least that’s how it seems to us, we are increasingly amazed. You don’t need much imagination to discover in the crazy rock spires, rock needles, mushrooms, pillars and pagodas, shapes of the sky, figures of war, couples of love, animals and fantasy creatures. We crawl through small vaults, tunnel-like arches and labyrinthine corridors. You pass small waterfalls and pools where the water shines so golden that you could be forgiven for thinking the entire ground is made of the precious metal. Cicadas chirp for all they’re worth. They sit on tropical plants and trees, whose roots wrestle through and over the angular rocks like giant snakes in some places in order to assert themselves against the ancient rock. Their varied green embraces the different shades of grey of the rock towers, which are up to 30 meters high. Above, they stretch their heads, mouths, arms, swords and crowns into a blue and white carpet of clouds. The sun casts glistening rays down into the gorges towards us, illuminating crevices and dark niches for moments until another cloud moves in front of the glowing star and switches off the light. Deeply impressed, we walk on through a museum of the stone forest karst, enchanted by the lifelike masterpieces that Mother Earth has created here. The Chinese have named many a particularly striking rock tower “A piece of heaven”, “Mother and child”, “Moonstruck rhinoceros”, “Immortal mushroom”, “Bamboo” or “Baby elephant”.
Then we reach the lotus peak on which a small pavilion is enthroned. From up here, we enjoy a breathtaking view of a sea of bizarre rock needles, their peaks gnawed into the sky by the ravages of time. The lush green of the subtropical plants and trees covers it like a silken cloth. Intoxicated by the beauty and uniqueness, we are unable to detach our gaze. No wonder some visitors refer to this landscape as the first wonder of the world…
If you would like to find out more about our adventures, you can find our books under this link.
The live coverage is supported by the companies Gesat GmbH: www.gesat.com and roda computer GmbH http://roda-computer.com/ The satellite telephone Explorer 300 from Gesat and the rugged notebook Pegasus RP9 from Roda are the pillars of the transmission.
