Suonandajie Protection Station

Location:

The Suonandajie Protection Station is located at 2,952 kilometers away from the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, which is in the east side of the Kekexili. It is 220 kilometers away from Golmud and 50 kilometers away from the Kunlun Mountain Pass.   

Characteristic:

The Suonandajie Protection Station is the first natural ecological and environmental protection station by the NGO in China.

Brief Introduction of the Suonandajie Protection Station:

In the early 1990s, as many illegal poachers flocked here, the number of the wild animals especially that of the Tibetan Antelope is decreasing sharply. As the local government is short of funds, the ability of protecting the wild animals is quite limited. On the January, 18th of 1994, Suonandajie, the secretary of the working committee of Zhiduo County, died for protecting the Tibetan Antelope.

He, alone, fought against 18 poachers and unfortunately he was shot dead in the end. In the May of 1996, the first NGO natural ecological environment protection station—the Suonandajie Natural Protection Station was to lay a foundation. In the following year, after many efforts, the construction materials and twelve volunteers were ready.

On the September, 10th of 1997, with the assistant of the Zhiduo County, the Suonandajie Natural Protection Station was built on the foot of the Kunlun Mountain, east of the Kekexili. It is at the forefront of fighting against the poachers. Its construction greatly protects the Tibetan Antelope in Kekexili.

Kekexili means the Blue Mountain in Mongolian. It is known as the Beautiful Girl. The Suonandajie protection area is named “A Qing Gong Jia” in the Tibetan language. The Suonandajie Protection Station is bordered with the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Haixi Mongolian Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Qumalai County of the Yushu Prefecture.

The protection station is about 280 kilometers wide from south to north and 200—400 kilometers long from east to west. The Suonandajie Protection Station covers an area of 45,000 square kilometers. The average altitude of the station is above 4,600 meters and the highest is 6,860 meters. (The Qinghai Peak, also known as the Bukadaban Peak or the Monuomaha peak, is the highest peak of Qinghai province).

Most of the protection areas are medium and small rolling mountains and high-altitude hills, plateaus and plains. The lowest temperature in record is minus 46 Degree Celsius. Kekexili is known as the Third Solar in the world. As the harsh natural environment and climatic conditions, it is impossible for human beings to live here for a long time.

The original ecological environment and unique natural landscape are also therefore retained intact.

The Suonandajie Protection Station is rich in wild plant resources. The main vegetation types are alpine grassland, alpine meadow and alpine periglacial vegetation. The species of wild animals are few while the number of wild animals is large. There are many Class-1 national level protected animals, including Tibetan Antelope, Wild Yak, Wild Tibetan Donkey, Golden Eagle, Black-necked Crane, Snow Leopard etc. In addition, there are some Class-2 National level protected animals, such as Argali, Blue Sheep, Goa, Cinereous Vulture etc.

Transportation:

Tourists can rent cars to go there. It will cost 400-500 Yuan. Besides the Suonandajie Natural Protection Station, tourists can also visit the Kunlun Mountain Pass.