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The Myanmar mountains of the north stretching out from the Tibet Himalayas are perfect
for adventure tours and trekking.
Myanmar
mountains
of the north are very isolated, the infrastructure
is not good at all and transportation is difficult
because of that almost no foreigners until now have
been there, with the exception of some British
adventurers during colonial times. Myanmar mountains
are for the people who have been everywhere, seen
everything but want to have a controlled risk about
new frontiers, not ending up with some mad people
like in the many other countries when leaving the
beaten tracks, the main town in that area is Putao,
the former Fort Hertz which was one of the remotest
outposts of the British colonial troops. Actually
only some British soldiers, adventurer and botanists
went to that area in the last century. Putao has an
airport and daily flight connection to Yangon, the
area is slowly receiving more and more trekking
tourists, since its pristine and genuine environment
plus climber who try to conquer the Myanmar Himalaya
and Mt.
Hkakabo Razi.
Mt. Hkakabo Razi
(picture below),
Myanmar’s and South East Asia’s highest peak
at 5,900 meters, is located in
the northern most reaches of Kachin State.
The mountain was conquered for the first
time in 1997 by a team of Japanese and
Myanmar climbers. The closest town is Putao,
a small, quiet place, surrounded by
snow-capped mountains stretching from Tibet
in the north-west.
A snow caped mountain
in Myanmar in
ranges with plenty of snow all year long,
glaciers and pristine environment, no cable
cars, no roads, nothing gives disturbance to mother nature. There
are talks with some Thai investors to open a
ski resort for winter fun all year round,
but nothing happen yet, its probable better
when it stays like this.
The higher
mountain region is populated with pine,
hemlock and silver fir mixed with some
larch. From 2,700
meters to 3,700 meters
almost pure conifer forests cover the
slopes. There is a abundance of hardwoods:
oak, maple, birch, walnut, chestnut as well
as rhododendron and others, but only at
regions not accessible by roads, if a region
is accessible all trees are immediately cut
be Chinese and local poachers, they come via
the Myanmar Chinese border and Putao, the
Hkakabo Razi is the highest mountain there.
Steep fields in the valleys around are
cultivated.
There are gardens of hill rice,
maize and millet within patches of colocasia,
mixed with cereal crops, cucumbers, gourds
and huge marrows. Only slopes facing south to west can be
cultivated and the yield is rather poor.
Fences have been erected to keep deer, pigs,
monkeys and others animals out of the
fields.
- Putao and Myanmar Himalaya
The plain of Putao, closely surrounded
on three sides by high mountains which pour their innumerable streams into
this central sump, is not a pleasant place in summer. The rainfall for six
months averages
150 in., the humidity rarely falls below
75 per cent saturation, and the average maximum temperature for the same
period is about 90 F.
- But the fine winters and superb
views of the Myanmar mountains, glazed with snow,
are some compensation for the many discomforts
of the rainy season. The rain-washed
air is clear as crystal and the mountains looked
very close. Away to the west, the ranges
which separate the Mali Hka from the Dihang, a
tributary of the Brahmaputra, rise abruptly from
the edge of the plain, so near that they mask
the 12,000 foot peaks just behind them. Here is
the
Hkakabo Razi, Myanmar's and south east Asia
highest mountain.
Further north
in the Myanmar mountains,
the Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady-Brahmaputra divide
grows higher, Noi Madive, a peak almost due
north and 30
miles distant,
rising to over 15,000 feet; and another 30 miles
north of Noi
Madive is the Diphuk Pass, one of three or four
passes over the Irrawaddy-or Ayeyarwady Lohit
divide in 120 miles. Ten miles north-cast of the Diphuk Pass is the snow peak Ka Karpo Razi,
19,269 feet, the highest mountain in Myanmar and
south-east Asia;
A little south of
the Shingrup Hkyet (pass) over the main range
can be seen. In winter these mountains
appear as a wide arc of snow. But in July it
gets very hot with a terrific thunderstorms over
the hills. As rivers go in south-east Asia,
and particularly as compared with the rivers on
either side of it, namely the Brahmaputra to the
west, the Salween and Mekong to the east, the
Irrawaddy is a rather small, or at least a short
river. It is barely 1500 miles in length,
whereas the Brahmaputra is over 2500 miles, the
Mekong about the same and the Salween not less
than 2000 miles.
The snow in
the Myanmar mountains and not only at the area
where Hkakabo Razi is, chills the air flowing in
from the plains and from the sea and adds still
more rain and snow. In the mountains heavy
precipitation is frequent, long before the
monsoon breaks in
central Myanmar. Large snow patches
lying unmelted throughout the
summer, while above 15,000 feet
there is many permanent snow,
the last remnants of glaciers
which once covered almost the
whole of the country north of
latitude 26°.
These snow
patches on
Hkakabo Razi
and elsewhere
are no longer considered as
glaciers only because they have
so far shrunk that the weight of
snow is not sufficient to form
ice. But though motionless, they
are relatively as
permanent as glaciers. There is a more
curious reason for the persistence of snow beds at low
altitudes, sometimes so low as 10,000
feet, throughout the summer, in the Myanmar
Himalayas.
The mountains
north of Putao at
the headwaters of the Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady
are exceedingly steep, alpine valleys like
the Scinghku and its tributaries exceedingly
narrow and deep. As a result, quite early in the
year, the snow begins to avalanche
Putao trekking
Hkakabo Razi
Large snow patches at a
Myanmar Mountainin Kachin
state near
Putao
Picnic in the mountains
Wild mountain streams
Mountain rivers near Putao
Mountain rivers
down their
sides and pile up in immense mounds, blocking
the streams, which presently tunnel beneath the
beds. Some of these avalanche beds cover several
acres, and sunk deep in the ravines never get an
hour's sunshine. Further protection is afforded
by a layer of earth and stones, dust and
vegetable debris which rapidly accumulates over
the surface, some of it washed down the alluvial
fans, but much of it blown by the wind;
eventually it may reach a thickness of several
inches.
The peaks around
Mt. Hkakabo Razi and north of Putao are not the only
snow peaks in northern Myanmar. The whole length
of the Salween Irrawaddy divide for some 200
miles north of latitude 26° is sprinkled with
snow peaks. Many small glaciers amongst which
its four major streams rise. This then seems to
be the true explanation of the great summer rise
of the Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady: heavy
precipitation in the mountains throughout the
year, together with a locking up of a vast
quantity of water during half the year, creates
wild mountain streams of the Myanmar Himalaya.
Exactly why
the
northern Myanmar mountain around Hkakabo Razi and
Putao gets so much rain and snow,
especially during the winter month, is not very
clear; but we must remember that this region is
not very remote from the sea. Putao is about 600
miles away of the Bay of Bengal, within 1000
miles of the Gulf of Thailand and within 700
miles of the Gulf of Tong King. If we take Putao
as centre, and with a thousand-mile radius
describe an arc from the east coast of India to
the south coast of China, it will include nearly
half the Bay of Bengal and the entire Gulf of
Tong King, just touching the Gulf of Thailand a
sea area larger than the whole of Myanmar. In no
other region in the world is perpetual turbulence and
a continuous passing of great air currents more
likely than over the network of deep
sub-tropical valleys and snow-covered peaks of
the Myanmar Himalayas; and the peculiar
formation of the country itself contributes to
their birth, maintenance and evolution.
It is
possible that owing to the continuous
destruction of forest by the hill tribes and
recently by Chinese poachers with big money to
distribute, with consequent loss of soil,
quicker run off, and lack of roots to take up
water of the mountain rivers, the Irrawaddy is gradually rising to
greater flood heights in less time than
formerly.
As for the snow
line in the
Myanmar Himalaya
around
Hkakabo Razi, the glaciers
have long been in retreat, and would appear to
be still retreating, while the 'permanent' snow
beds may be decreasing in size. If there is a
general amelioration of climate, whether due to
warming up or to a smaller precipitation, the
snow line will rise and snow melt be reduced
delivering less water to the mountain rivers.
The
Hkamti plain is dotted with a number of
small Shan villages each with its
rice fields. The largest is Putao
itself, here and there, sometimes
from the midst of the paddy fields,
clusters of crumbling pagodas rise., and
there are unpretentious monasteries in
the villages where a few yellow-robed
monks with shorn pates perform the rites
of the Buddhist religion. The sweet
tones of the gongs ring out across the
plain at all hours.
Three
distinct types of vegetation are met
with, namely, forest, occupying the
terraces and drier ground; swamp,
covering much of the plain to the north
too; The Myanmar Himalaya forest is composed of the same
trees met with at similar altitudes --
up to 3000 feet, more or less.
There are
stretches of magnificent forest to the
east, between Putao and the Mali Hka,
which bounds the plain on that side.
Near villages, much of it has been
reduced to a dense growth of scrub and
fern by cutting for firewood. Amongst a
great variety of trees are Quercus
semiserrala, Altingia excelsa,
Pterospermum (P. semisaggitalum),
Sarcinia, Magnolia, various Laurels,
figs, Elaeocarpus, Sterculia and a tree
with narrow oblong leaves over a foot in
length, probably a species of
Goniothalamus.
Wide
stretches of artificial sward occur near
Putao and elsewhere on the banks of
the many small streams which wriggle
across the plain. A small crimson
flowered orchid (Spiranthes) and a
creeping Lysimachia with golden-yellow
flowers, very like the British L.
Nummularia or money-wort, grow in the
turf. A variety of plants grow in the
villages and in Shan gardens, many of
them
flowering
gaily in the cold weather. Very striking then are the hedges of sunflower. The
Myanmar people
in the valleys catch fish in thorn-lined
conical fish traps, with nets or
harpoon. They
also eat barking deer, gooral,
serow, pheasants and monkeys. When these
food sources are scarce, the valley
population will eat anything from snails and
frogs, to lizards, snakes and wasp grubs.
- Myanmar Himalaya Trekking
in the virtual shadow of Mt.
Hkakabo Razi
through cold weather, mist hangs over the peaceful
and serene surroundings almost 6 months of
the year.
Flowing streams and rivulets,
straw-roofed houses and fences of pebbles
and creek stones provide a pleasant,
pastoral contrast to the scenes and sights
of Yangon.
Around Putao and up in the mountains are peoples of the Rawan, Lisu, Khamti-Shan,
Jingphaw and Kachin are represented in the
region.
Simple, direct, hard working and
hospitable, they make a living in the lower
areas by growing paddy, fruits, roots and
medical plants. Grape fruit, American lime,
Washington navel fruit, varieties of peaches
and oranges grow.
Ginseng and musk are plentiful.
Many species
of orchid and other exotic flora and fauna
such as musk deer, takin and flying squirrel
are native to this region which more or
less can only be accessed via Putao.
Myanmar Himalaya Trekking