Avon Gorge

A First Descent of Mekong River's Headwaters ... Almost.

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• published: 18 Dec 2012
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(The following is excerpted From Peter Winn's "Shangri La River Expeditions Journal) for more, click here: http://www.shangri-la-river-expeditions.com/journals/mekong1999/zaqu99.html We knew that an expedition to the headwaters would be a challenge, but we encountered difficulties we've never had to face before. To get to the put-in for the eight day, 100 mile float trip, we traveled for two days by air, five by road and four by horse and yak, with four days for rest and tourism interspersed. From home to the put-in: fifteen days. Then ten days on the river, another three days by road and two or three days flying to get home, for a total of 31 days. We knew this would be hard on folks, but other challenges kept popping up unexpectedly that made it seem like we'd made a big mistake. We thought we knew where the source of the Mekong was located based on a book that gave the exact longitude and latitude. However, another branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences moved the source from one major tributary to another about a month before we departed from the US, so we had to change our itinerary. About the same time, two of the ten American participants canceled for medical reasons, causing CISE and ESE to take a financial beating. Then a few days before we left the US, UPS lost a package with a passport, visa and plane tickets, causing a three day delay and all of the hassles and increased costs that come with changing reservations for planes, hotels and vehicles. When we arrived in Xining, Qinghai, from which we planned to drive several hundred miles south over the next four days, we found that two of the four vehicles our local travel agent had rented weren't suitable for the Class V roads. We had no choice but to use them, with the result that the drive took an extra day. One of the drivers was a maniac and another was incompetent. This latter driver's vehicle also broke down regularly (partly his fault), and a third vehicle (a two wheel drive pickup with a competent driver) got stuck 40 times the last two days. What a relief when we reached the end of the road and loaded our gear onto yaks. Then, on the third night out on horseback, when we were a day's horseback ride from the put-in, our Tibetan yak herder blackmailed us into paying double for yak rental. The final blow hit us at the put-in. After traveling for fifteen days from home and several hundred miles on Class V roads across the "Roof of the World", we found Polaroid film wrappers with Kanji script and a Tibetan yak herder who informed us that another boat had put-in that morning. A Japanese team had beat us to the first descent by one day. That night a snow storm hit us (although it was August, the put-in was at an elevation of 15,000 feet) and we had to postpone our put-in for another day to wait for the blizzard to end - no chance of catching them. While we were on the river, one of the vehicles overturned on the shuttle with Ma Da in it. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt. Then, at the end of our farewell party in Xining, we gave the drivers what we thought was a healthy tip for getting us back safely, only to find that it was small compared to the last tip they'd gotten (from another Japanese tour group) and they were quite upset with us. Whew! Fortunately, we had a competent, compatible group that stayed upbeat and coped well with the adversity. Once we got on the river and had control of our own destiny, things went really well. No injuries, no serious illnesses. The scenery was spectacular and the river was fantastic. One day, monks at a riverside monastery in a Shangri-La setting (photo above) opened their prayer room to us. On another day a Tibetan family brought us fresh yak milk. We saw a Snow Leopard, and, as one participant put it, "that made up for everything." When we arrived at the only town on the river, Zadoi, there were hundreds of spectators waving "hello" (in English!) and they set off fireworks to welcome us. We were in Nirvana by the time we reached the take-out - with the exception of failing to make the first descent, all the hassles of getting to the put-in were forgotten.