The
reserve headquarters complex is another 7.5 miles farther into the park,
at the end of the road. Here are offices, a lecture hall, a museum, staff
residences, a nice guest house (where we stay), a dining area, and even
a dance hall featuring karyoke in the evening!
A
new education center is under construction. One result of our visit here
is an agreement that the Zoo will provide technical advice, led by Zoo Associate
Director of Interpretive Programs David Jenkins, about exhibits and programs
in the new center.
Beyond
the headquarters, the only access further into the reserve is on foot
along the ragged, sometimes treacherous remains of a logging road. Running
along and above a river, this road was washed out in a great flood in
1991. In three long walks we see fairly abundant signs of wildlife, including
takin feces; tracks of wild boar, hog badger, palm civet, and leopard
cat; and actual sightings of a porcupine, a muntjac, and a tufted deer.
Piles of chewed-on bamboo indicate porcupines at work as well.
Reserve staff also point out places, especially former apple and pear
orchards, where one can see rhesus and golden monkeys and Asiatic black
bears at some times of the year. We see no sign of giant pandas, likely
because they are at higher elevations this time of year. This reserve
is connected through forest and other reserves with additional panda habitat
to form what conservationists call the "Min Shan giant panda population
A," one of the largest left.
