Zhagana

Zhagana means stone box in Tibetan, and the description fits: a ring of grey limestone peaks encloses a basin of terraced barley fields, conifer forest and four villages of timber and stone houses, entered through a gap in the rock. Joseph Rock, the botanist who travelled this region in the 1920s, wrote of it in terms that later readers connected to imagined lost valleys. Paths climb from the villages to viewpoints, through the forest to a lake and over a pass toward the neighbouring valleys, and mist frequently fills the basin in the morning with the peaks standing above it.

What you actually see

• The rock amphitheatre - limestone peaks enclosing the basin.
• The four villages - timber and stone houses among terraced fields.
• The morning mist - cloud filling the basin below the peaks.
• The walking routes - paths to viewpoints, a lake and over the passes.

When to go

May to October, with barley green in summer and gold before the September harvest; winter is snowbound and cold. Rain is frequent in July and August and roads can be affected.

Honest expectations

Access requires a long road journey and a change of transport. Guesthouses are village homestays, simple and cold outside summer. Development has accelerated since the area became known.

Nearby

Langmusi lies southwest; Xiahe is north.