Birds twittered in chorus as I awoke. It was early August, and the first morning I spent at Wanglang Nature Reserve's headquarters.

I got out of bed and opened the curtains, and I was immediately greeted by lush green landscape.

I left my room and was soon surrounded by moist, fresh air that permeated the valley, about 2,500 meters above sea level and at the base of the mountain.

I commented over breakfast about the marvelous foliage to Chen Youping, director of the Wanglang Nature Reserve Management Bureau.

Chen is also the reserve's sheriff.

"What you see here is the second natural woods, because this area was logged about 50 years ago," Chen said.

After breakfast, we drove, in a Pajero, onto a narrow, dirt mountain road flanked by thick leaves and willows.

Chen turned left at a junction of three roads. We were at a site the locals call Zhugencha gully, about 20 kilometers from the reserve's headquarters.

We got out of the vehicle and gazed at the giant spruces and firs, which soared skyward. The area is about 2,900 metres above sea level.

"Here we are at the virgin forest," Chen announced.

We discovered tiny yellow, purple and red flowers and heard insects chirp and birds sing as we walked along the trail.

The 300-square-kilometer terrain of the Wanglang Nature Reserve, nestled in the Minshan Mountains, rises and falls from 2,430 to 4,980 meters above sea level.

The mountains are located in the transitional zone between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. They were formed by earthquake-like activities.

Loose stones and soil covering portions of the hills caught my attention. Chen explained landslides had created the terrain.

A Lot to Offer

Chen is proud of what the reserve offers. Wanglang Nature Reserve was established in 1963 as one of China's first nature reserves.

The forests contain 97 species of trees, shrubs, grass, ferns and other plants. Spruce, larch, fir, pine and birch, some hundreds of years old, are common. Pines tower over the mountain's passes.

I was tasting a few wild, tiny strawberries when Chen called to me.

Bending down together, Chen urged me to feel the humus carpet that had formed from decaying leaves, twigs and logs. It was soft like a sponge. It was 15 centimeters thick in some places.

"Look how thick the humus carpet beneath the virgin forest is," he said.

"It helps keep the moisture and water in the soil; it holds the soil, cleanses the water and serves as an actual natural reservoir."

Wanglang was designated as a national nature reserve last year, because it has undisturbed foliage - and is home to several endangered species.

Giant pandas - numbering around 30, golden snub-nosed monkeys, takins and leopards live in the reserve.

Bears, foxes, various wild cats, lynx, red pandas, musk deer, blue sheep, and picas also live in Wanglang.

The next day we elbowed our way through the woods into another gully, called Dawodang, which is off limits to tourists.

Chen, walking briskly as if on an asphalt road, took us into the bamboo groves sheltered by conifers and broadleaves.

I wondered if I would spot a wild panda. During my trip into the Qinling Mountains in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province 10 years ago, I'd seen a mother panda and her cub.

"Unlikely," Chen said. He explained that giant pandas are shy and wary of humans.

"They have the power to smell humans approaching. They are able to move quickly and hide."

Since Chen was appointed in 1997 to manage the reserve, he and his staffers have routinely searched for traces left by the pandas.

Between April and June this year, the rangers spotted and recorded 55 instances of panda droppings or partially eaten bamboo.

Over the years, they found just two dead pandas. It has not been determined what caused their deaths.

Along the trails, I got a sense of the responsibility Chen and his 20-some staffers carry on their shoulders.

If the virgin forest was destroyed, the bamboo groves - the major source of food for the pandas - would dry out. It would be the loss of a precious natural habitat.

The thick humus carpet would also disappear and the valley would experience soil erosion. Vegetation would also become depleted.

Landslides and mudflows would increase, and subsequently would threaten local ethnic villages in the valley.

"We humans cannot make up for what we destroy," Chen said.

He led me along a slope that had obviously been tilled into terraces. Pines and bamboo were planted side by side.

Chen said some scientists about 20 years ago had started an experiment to see if they could nurture a bamboo grove for the pandas.

The pines and bamboo have grown, but unfortunately they are about the same height. As the bamboo is under direct sunshine, it will not grow into nutritious food for pandas, Chen explained.

Difficult Job

During my stay, I frequently heard Chen and his staff talk about patrolling the reserve's far end for poachers.

Over the years, he and other rangers have caught poachers with animals - including takins and blue sheep.

Stories of chance encounters and battles between rangers and poachers are legendary.

"The battles are still going on," Chen said.

Zhao Lianjun, who directs the reserve's general office, said poaching remains a serious problem.

"When the meat of a takin can be sold for as much as 24 yuan (US$2.90) a kilo, someone is bound to try to kill for money," Zhao said.

A number of wooden boards at the forests' courtyard or entrance catch visitors' attention.

They have signs with big block-typed Chinese characters: baohu women de guobao (protecting our national treasure).

With maps, photos and charts, the posters tell visitors in simple, succinct Chinese and English about the Wanglang Nature Reserve.

The messages detail problems associated with protecting the giant pandas - such as habitat destruction and poaching.

The messages also clearly explain that everybody can help save the pandas and their habitat.

We must abstain from purchasing or eating any kind of wild meat, or buying products made from endangered wild animals, posters urge.

We must also ensure we buy medicinal plants from cultivated stock, not harvested from wild areas. We must also explain panda conservation to our friends and families, they add.

Training Base

The posters were prepared by volunteers from home and international conservation organizations, such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Chen has opened Wanglang to conservationists and scientists from around the world.

"Chen is open to scientific research, and to the idea of ecotourism," Li Shengzhi, Sichuan's WWF representative, said.

WWF is supporting a collaborative ecotourism project at Wanglang, and a community development initiative near the reserve.

Due to the collaborative project, the ethnic Baima village, called Yazhe, now has 15 homestays. The village can accommodate up to a few hundred tourists.

Wanglang has become a scientific and training base of sorts for nature conservation in China.

Over the years, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Peking University have conducted numerous studies in the reserve.

Topics have involved biodiversity, nature conservation, geological or weather changes and ecotourism development.

The scientists have helped train the reserve's staff. Most of Wanglang's employees are high school graduates.

"The scientists teach us not only ways to approach a problem, but also how to develop channels to solve the problem," said Zhao, who is also the reserve's software engineer.

About 50 rangers from different nature reserves in Sichuan Province attended a two-day program to improve their skills at monitoring wild animals.

The program began on the day I left the reserve.

Place to Return to

I had spent 10 hours on the mountain road and took a three-hour tour of the Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, which borders Wanglang.

Jiuzhaigou, which attracts about 12,000 tourists daily, has spectacular scenery.

After crowding into the huge dining area for lunch, brushing shoulders with many other tourists along the mountain trail and queuing in long lines for buses, I decided not follow the hordes of tourists into the site for a second look.

I'd rather stay at Wanglang, where I can immerse myself in the quiet, and the lush green foliage. I'd rather be close to nature, and treasure what nature has to offer.

(China Daily September 17, 2002)