WildChina, alongside Outpost Magazine, Revo, Mountain Hardwear, and ZoomerMedia, is sponsoring a once-in-a lifetime journey, The Kawa Karpo Expedition.  Leaving next week, WildChina expert & good friend, Jeff Fuchs will be leading this expedition.

Fuchs, a longtime resident of Shangrila and Explorer Club member, has a longtime fascination with lost trade routes and sacred Tibetan mountains.  With this journey to Kawa Karpo, Fuchs, alongside Bill Roberts of Zoomermedia, aim to immerse in “a journey along an ancient pilgrimage-trade route, a journey to recapture and peek into an ancient route when mules and men (and mountains) were inseparable. ”

Speaking to Fuchs on the phone earlier today, he is hard at work putting on pre-expedition pounds and eagerly awaiting the arrival of Roberts and videographer Roberto Gibbon Gomez.  At the moment, Fuchs imagines the expedition will take 9-12 days to complete, depending on weather.

Stay tuned right here on the WildChina blog to track the Kawa Karpo Expedition. Fuchs will be sending photos and stories via sat phone while on the trail!

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If Jeff Fuchs’ journey sounds right up your alley, WildChina is offering an expert-led trip with Fuchs exploring The Ancient Tea and Horse Caravan from April 11-20, 2012. Sign up now!

New York Times reporter Edward Wong unknowingly traced WildChina’s first-ever trip in the piece he recently wrote for the Sunday Travel section. Edward travels throughout Yunnan, from the valley of the Mekong River, (called the Lancang in Yunnan), to the secluded Tibetan village of Lower Yubeng, then to several sacred sites including Mystic Lake and Mystic Waterfall.

Mt. Yubeng in Yunnan

The journey he takes is a beautiful one that visits sites sacred to Tibetans. Buddhists arriving at the Mystical Falls  circumambulate them 13 times with the belief that this act will accumulate merit.

In WildChina’s early years we ran this trip quite often, and promoted it heavily to guests interested in hiking, nature and Tibetan culture. In the past few years we’ve stopped visiting so much because the region has become quite touristy and lost some of its natural charm and secluded appeal. Read the rest of this entry »