ORCHID
TRAIL TO
HPON KAN RAZI
By
Kyaw Nyunt
Photos: Kyaw Nyunt/Thein Aung
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"We
reached the peak at 1320 hours on 28 November 2004. There was nothing
but pure white snow falling all around us. Wherever I looked it
was just snow, snow, snow. My eye- brows were covered with snow
and my com- panion U rhein Aung, Park warden of the Hka Ka Bo Razi
National Park, looked like a Snow Man from the Arctic region. I
have never experienced such cold weather in my life but being surrounded
by magically beautiful snow flakes made this a wonderful experience
despite the icy wind blowing from the Himalayas."
My
six-member team and I were on top of Hpon Kan Razi at 11919 ft,
one of the snow- covered mountains in the Kachin State The northern-most
part of Myanmar is bor- dered by India in the west and |
China in the northeast and the peak that we had success- fully assaulted
is on the Myanmar/India border, situated on north latitude of 27.30.437'
and east longitude 96.56.119'. Hpon Kan Razi is also known as the watershed
of the wide Nam Lang stream, which flows into the Malikha River near Machanbaw,
Kachin State.
Why
did I climb this mountain? Not "because it is there" but to
search for new species of orchids. Did I find them? Yes! And in abundance
all along the route until we reached the camp called Ye-Khe-Sutl! (literally
"edge of the ice") where it was too cold for orchids to grow.
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One
outstanding find was Cymbidium longifolium, a beautiful white flower
with a slight tinge of red, growing on the moss-covered branches
of trees such as laurels, birches and maples, at 7649 ft. above
sea level. I have come across a similar species Cymbidium elegans
in the Chin Hills at the alti- tude of 5000 ft. . near Falam about
twenty-five years ago but this was the first time I spotted it in
the Kachin State. |
We
had started off from Putao in a jeep left over from World War II to San
Kwang Village at 1480 ft, which is about twelve miles along the road.
The village population is slightly over 800 and the residents are mostly
of Rawan and Lisu races.
After
spending the night there we left the next morning on foot, crossing the
stream by a bamboo bridge. As the footpath had been cut six feet wide
by side of the hill the climb was not too bad. We reached Hpatek Peak
at 4690 ft. and there I saw some rare Arisamea spp in full bloom in the
shade by the side of the road. I still need to find out the species name
of this beautiful blossom.
The
journey is downhill after leaving Hpatek as it plunges nearly 1700 ft.
to reach Wasandam Village at the altitude of 2916 ft, which we reached
at sunset. It is a tiny village with only 90 inhabitants. We stayed at
U Saw San Aye and Daw San Daung's home. I came across yet another beautiful
orchid in bloom, Cymbidium eburneum x insigne.
The
most exciting moment was crossing the steel cable suspension bridge the
next morning. Since Wasandam is situated between two streams, Nam Lang
and Nam Hu, \we had no choice but to cross the wobbly,. sagging a 250
ft bridge. I did not know how I long it took us to cross one by one, but
it was \ worth the shaky knees as once we reached the other side a picturesque
view of the forest greeted us together with songs of birds such as Mesial
laughing Thrush, Green Magpie and Tree Pie. It was like a dream for me
to hear the musical sound of water gurgling between the boulders backed
with the bird songs.
The
next village we reached is named Awadam. Since the sun was quite
high by then, we decided to have lunch at the primary school teacher's
home. The teacher herself is only, fifteen years old! She is also
the principal and \ looks after forty students not much older than
herself.
Ziadam
village at 3519 ft. was our last stop before making the ascent to
the peak. We hired porters who are more experienced. Then we replenished
our supplies after deciding on the route, because this was the last
chance to shop! We also had a discussion with the local elders to
select the best and easiest route to reach the peak. |
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Ziadam
village at 3519 ft. was our last stop before making the ascent
to the peak. We hired porters who are more experienced. Then we
replenished our supplies after deciding on the route, because
this was the last chance to shop! We also had a discussion with
the local elders to select the best and easiest route to reach
the peak.
There
were two routes to consider: one is from the southwest to both Hpon Kan Razi and Sarimadim (12260 ft). Another is to Hpan Gran
Razi (14100 ft) by the Hpan Gran stream and then along the Hpan
Gran range to the peak. Naturally, fter weighing the pros and
cons |
we chose the easier southwest route. Among the moss of a 40 feet-diameter
boulder sitting in a stream by the village, we saw large clumps of Dendrobium
nobile.
We
left Ziadam on 25 November.Our route I passed through many leftover Taung
Ya areas (slash and burn plots). As rain was falling our pants and boots
became soaked and leeches I began to attack. I found four bloated ones
inside my boots.
As we climbed the forest gradually changed from tropical evergreen to
temperate rain forest and we saw Quercus (oak), Castanopsis (chestnut)
and Acer (maple).
Any Satyrium nepalense were in flower by the footpath.
Some
were in bud, and some only seed- ling, growing in the partly shaded areas.
We began seeing Rhododendron all around us at the altitude of7469ft. Laurel,
birch, oak, maple and magnolia are abundant as well.
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The
branches of these trees were covered with thick moss and we saw a variety
of Cymbidium longifolium and Cymbidium eburneum in full bloom. We also
saw Cymbidium ensifolium on the ground with a bunch of seedpods and
another with a flower -sadly, already wilted.
When
we reached Khan Dauk camp at 8321 ft., the porters and team members
had to go down a ravine to fetch water for cooking, drinking and washing.
It took an hour each time. They again had to fetch water the next morning
to prepare breakfast and to pack lunch- boxes. As we climbed higher,
water became the criterion in selecting a campsite. After leaving Khan
Oauk camp we had to use our water bottles sparingly as is no water avail-
able along the route until we would reach the snowline.
We saw black bamboo
(Phyllostachys nigra) after climbing another nine hundred feet. Rhododendron
trees grew everywhere but unfortunately flowerless as November is not
the season. The surrounding vegetation changed from Rhododendron to
mixed Alpine forest of Yew (Taxus baccata), Abies spp and we could see
the pine forest at a distance. We reached "Ye-Khe-Sut" (edge
of ice) camp on the afternoon of 27 November. This time it was easier
for our team members to fetch snow in buckets to melt into water.
It was not
that simple to start a fire at an altitude of 10377 ft. and it was not
much fun either when we all were tired and hungry. But we managed to
get the fire going with a manual blower and prepared our meals before
settling down for the night. The campground is about fifty feet wide
and we erected our two tents as close as possible to the fire.
It was the
day after the Full Moon of Tazaungmone, supposed to be the most beautiful
moon of the year. The whole sky was lit up with light from the moon
and the twinkling stars. It was a dazzling night but a sleepless one
for me as I was too cold. I was also anxious of the last lap of our
climb.
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We
left Ye-Khe-Sut" camp at 9:00am on 28 November 2004 for our
final assault. There were no more orchids as everything was covered
with snow but the Taxus trees; Abies, Rhododendrons and black
bamboo were growing bravely in the chilly wind.
The
ascent became harder as the air became thinner, and I was exhausted.
I could only walk forty paces at a time before resting for a minute
or two.
We
reached the peak at 11919 ft, at 1320 hours. I looked towards
the west, to the snow capped Himalayan range and thought, "there
are yet more mountains to |
climb", The descent was quicker and we covered more ground as we
were walking downhill most of the time. We saw two terrestrial orchid
species such as Calanthe brevicornu, plantanigea or tricarinata at an
altitude of 8500-9000 ft.
We also saw Eria coronaria on the branches broken down from maple trees and also Cleisostoma
raciferum on a colony of begonia besides the footpath near Hpan Gran stream.
On the fourth
day of our descent, we reached Wasandam Village in the late after- noon.
That was the first time I managed to get a full night sleep, at U San
Aye's house!
The next morning's
walk was up-hill again. From Wasandam we had to climb the Hpatek range
to reach Hpatek camp.
Between Hpatek and San Kwang village, we found a different kind of Oendrobium
densifolium, which we had not come across in higher altitudes.
Were we delighted
to see our WWII jeep waiting for us at San Kwang village! We instantly
forgot our aches and pains and climbed happily into the jeep for the twelve-
mile drive to Putao.
On the way my thoughts
ran wild: should I embark on another expedition in search of orchids?
The answer is "yes" whether my wife agrees to it or not. But
where? All can say is, "watch this space!"
Note:
This is the adapted version of the original paper read at the Okinawa
International Orchid Show 2005 in Okinawa, Japan. The adaptation was written
by Kyi Kyi May.
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| Snow-Capped Himalayan range
Eria
coronaria |
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