China Wildlife and Culture Exploration

Met by your Alpine Birding private bird guide or driver at the airport, then drive directly to the hotel. Tonight, we will have the first taste of Shaanxi cuisine

Depart early this morning to visit Terra-Cotta Warriors, the eighth wonder of the world which was created to guard the tomb of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor to unite ancient China. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Terra-Cotta Warriors is one of the most remarkable archaeological discoveries of all times. After leisurely admire this vast array of soldiers, we will visit Xian-Ancient city wall this afternoon. Followed dinner at local restaurant around the hotel, a leisure walking at the Muslim Quarters is optional tonight

In the early morning, we will drive to Xian North Train Station to catch the bullet train to Foping station where we will catch up a bus and drive a short distance to Golden Snub-nosed Monkey Reserve. After spending several hours with the spectacular Golden Snub-nosed Monkey. We will be transferred to Yangxian to spend the night

Located to the south of Qingling Mountain Range, the species boundary between the South and the North, Yangxian is a very unique birding spot where we can see the endemic and endangered Crested Ibis. It was considered as an extinct species until 7 Crested Ibises were found in Yangxian 1980s, while the population has gradually grown up to 3000. We will spend the whole morning there until transferred back to the train station to catch our train to Guangyuan. We will take bus from Guangyuan and drive on a breathtaking country road to the Wild Panda Reserve, Tangjiahe. En route, we will visit a beautiful and peaceful ancient town hide in the deep Mingshan Mountain which has a history over 1700 years

We will spend two whole days searching and photographing wildlife in the reserve. The reserve is one of the best places in China to search for Mammals include Sichuan Takin, Tibetan Macaque, Rhesus Macaque, Reeves’ Montjac, Tufted Deer, Yellow-throated Marten, Chinese Goral, Serow and even the rare Asian Black Bear. Here is also a very good site to search for Golden Pheasant and other forest birds. If we are lucky, we may also have a chance to see the fascinating but scarce Tawny Fish Owl

Today will be a rewarding driving day since we are driving to the World distribution center of the Pheasants. We will enjoy the beautiful countryside scenery on the way, some photo and rest stops will be scheduled

Start early this morning with boxed lunch to maximize our chance. Mt. Balang is one of the most productive birding site for pheasant species in China. Here we have chance to see Snow Partridge, Tibetan Snowcock, Blood Pheasant, White Eared Pheasant, Chinese Monal, Chesnut-throated Partridge (Verreaux’s Monal-Partridge) and also some other stunning birds like Himalayan Vulture, Lammergeier, Red-billed Chough, Yellow-billed Chough, Firethroat, Grandala, Chinese White-browed Roesfinch, Pink-rumped Roesfinch, Beautiful Roesfinch, Dark-breasted Roesfinch, Common Roesfinch, Streaked Roesfinch, Plan Mountain Finch, Brand’s Mountain Finch, White-winged Grosbeak, Giant Laughingthrush, Barred Laughingthrush, Chinese Fulvetta, White-browed Fulvetta, Himalayan Bluetail, White-throated Redstart, Blue-fronted Redstart

Drive to Balang Mountain in the early morning and try our targets again. In the late afternoon we drive about 3 hrs to Chengdu

Start early this morning to catch up with the active time of Pandas at different ages and quiet time in the morning, so that we can enjoy some less-crowded stay at the Chengdu Panda Base. Here we also have good chance to see birds such as Red-billed Leiothrix, White-browed Laughingthrush, Chinese Bulbul, etc. After our exploration, we will drive you to the airport to catch your flight, Alpine Birding service ends