Go with World Heritage Network !!!”
My wife, my two sons and I hiked the high trail along the Gorge in May with World Heritage Network’s guide, Sha, the best guide in the Gorge. Tiger Leaping Gorge is spectacular! It is best experienced from the high trail instead of by tour bus along the lower road by the river. This hundreds-of-years-old trial passes through beautiful remote villages and along steep scenery with stunning 5,000 meter peaks across the Gorge and the Yangtze River roiling 2,000 meters below. Beautiful and exhilirating. You must be pretty fit to take the whole trail to Walnut Garden in one 7 to 9 hour day, and must start before 10 AM. The trial is the steepest up and down I've taken in years of hiking the Sierras and Rockies in the US West. My wife decided wisely to rent a horse up the famous-for-its-difficulty steep '28 switchbacks.' You can hike lightly: you don't need to take any gear except a rain jacket, small water bottle, and sun protection in a small pack because there are guest houses and places to get water and food and to stay along the way. Don't be worried by reports of treacherous sections of trails to the Middle Gorge: death defying treks down into that part of the river are optional side trips that even some experienced local guides won't take.
By all means, try to get Sha from World Heritage Network to be your guide. He is a 5th generation resident of the Gorge. He is the most experienced guide in the Gorge, famous in China for his defense of the Gorge against Chinese plans to dam it. And he speaks English very well. He leads people along the trial maybe a hundred times a year. He intimately knows the local people, the history, the geography, and the stories of the region. Contact them directly by email: worldheritage101@yahoo.com They also have a website:
We hired Sha for 2 days. He met us early AM in Lijiang and his driver took us to the start of the trail where Sha's charming wife fixed us an early cup of tea and got us in her uniquely rustic cafe and meeting place before Sha led us up the trial whose entrance is nearly impossible to find without a guide. Overall we had a great time with Sha in this trekking tour arranged by WORLD HERITAGE NETWORK.
...by David Gerrison, New York, USA
“The unforgettable Tiger Leaping Gorge tour by World Heritage Network!”
This is a fantastic experience - a tough climb in parts so don't underestimate it! We made really good progress in the first couple of hours and had a wonderful lunch of very fresh home grown veggies and rice at the Naxi Family Guesthouse. We engaged World Heritage Network and hired a local guide, Sha, who spoke great english and met some friendly fellow travellers and kept on meeting/passing each other through the rest of the days walk.
Downhill was very tough, especially since it started raining. It really rained on and off so it got slippery and we were slower than we thought we would be! Our guide, Sha, was amazing and guided us so safely along the trails and with the added sounds of the water gushing in the gorge it was something none other than spectacular. It was getting dark and at last we saw some lights in the distance and the Family House Guesthouse was in sight. We were the last travellers to arrive for the night and drenched, nothing was dry, but pleased to be there. We managed to negotiate the 'best room in the house' and to our surprise it had an en-suite private bathroom complete with western toilet and an amazing shower with heat lamps. The staff at the guest house were great, they gave us lots of towels to dry off and we got a thermos of tea brought to our room. We eventually made it to dinner and they brought some hot coals to put at our feet! After a few beers with some others we had recovered and headed off to sleep in our electric blanket warmed beds.
We had a slow start in the morning, after a great breakfast in the open air restaurant with magnificent views of the gorge. Well worth it, but hurry as there are plans to turn the gorge into a hydroelectric plant by 2020. Also. leave lots of time for the walk, don't be like us you arrive early enough to appreciate the evening at the guesthouse and save yourselves a whole lot of anxiety of getting lost in the night, go for World Heritage Network who arrange excellent trekking guide with experience and skill for this kind of adventure gorge trekking.
... by Phil Davidson, Toronto, Canada
Downhill was very tough, especially since it started raining. It really rained on and off so it got slippery and we were slower than we thought we would be! Our guide, Sha, was amazing and guided us so safely along the trails and with the added sounds of the water gushing in the gorge it was something none other than spectacular. It was getting dark and at last we saw some lights in the distance and the Family House Guesthouse was in sight. We were the last travellers to arrive for the night and drenched, nothing was dry, but pleased to be there. We managed to negotiate the 'best room in the house' and to our surprise it had an en-suite private bathroom complete with western toilet and an amazing shower with heat lamps. The staff at the guest house were great, they gave us lots of towels to dry off and we got a thermos of tea brought to our room. We eventually made it to dinner and they brought some hot coals to put at our feet! After a few beers with some others we had recovered and headed off to sleep in our electric blanket warmed beds.
We had a slow start in the morning, after a great breakfast in the open air restaurant with magnificent views of the gorge. Well worth it, but hurry as there are plans to turn the gorge into a hydroelectric plant by 2020. Also. leave lots of time for the walk, don't be like us you arrive early enough to appreciate the evening at the guesthouse and save yourselves a whole lot of anxiety of getting lost in the night, go for World Heritage Network who arrange excellent trekking guide with experience and skill for this kind of adventure gorge trekking.
... by Phil Davidson, Toronto, Canada