The short version: if you only had a day to spend in Shangri-La, visit Balagezong National Park first. And if you have a second free day, allocate it to Tiger Leaping Gorge, horse riding at Napa Lake – and squeeze in Dukezong Ancient Town in the evening. We were initially uncertain about including Balagezong National Park in the Shangri-La segment of our itinerary, and this was mostly because of the amount of time it was taking to get there and back – 2 hours of driving each way. But after spending all of Day 07 there, we’re glad we did!
This national park is 176 square kilometers in area, and is known for dramatic landscapes, towering peaks and deep canyons. Importantly too for drone enthusiasts, you’d likely be able to fly in several spots, though there are some things to be mindful of that I’d note below. Like many of the national parks in China, private vehicles are not for the most part permitted in the park. Rather, you’d leave your private vehicle (or group tour bus) at the entrance, and once inside, you’d get from point to point using the park’s internal bus shuttle services which is included in the park admission fee. There are around half a dozen attraction spots in the park and we didn’t visit all of them: but did these four, and in this sequence:
Main entrance to Bala Village (spent 30 minutes here)
Bala Village => Echo Skywalk (spent about 1.5 hrs here, including walking the 1.1km to the glass observation platform)
Echo Skywalk => Back to Bala Village for lunch
Bala Village => Zhuomalakang Monastery (just a 30 minute stopover here)
Zhuomalakang Monastery => Balagezong (also known as Shangri-La) Grand Canyon (spent 1.5 hrs here)
Balagezong Grand Canyon => Back to main entrance
There is also waiting time for the shuttle buses to arrive, and the bus journeys from point to point. We couldn’t find bus arrival timings, so depended on our guide to check with the park wardens on that. The route above for our visit took about 6 hrs in all, which was just about all the time we had in order to make it back to Dukezong Ancient Town where our hotel was for dinner. There aren’t many F&B options in the park, so either you dine at the main entrance (I’m assuming there are restaurants there but I didn’t check), or at Bala Village. Or you bring along your own food. Do note that dining options at Bala Village during off-peak season at least is quite limited, and food prices were double what we were paying for in the Dukezong itself.
But the views were worth the expense and time it took to get to the park: in short, it was incredible, and Bala Village, Echo Skywalk and the Canyon offered very different perspectives of the Hengduan mountain range.
Notes if you’re going to fly drones in this area: I was able to fly in Bala Village, Echo Skywalk and in the canyon area. The Bala Village offers very interesting scenery – especially if you’re getting aerial videos of the village: but beware of rounding mountain corners as you’d quickly lose RC signal. Flying at the Echo Skywalk was very easy, since you’re at 700m elevation and a good ~1km at least flying distance around your launch point. Flying in the canyon was almost the toughest I’ve experienced so far [the hardest remains flying in Ninh Binh – Van Long Natural Reserve 2 years ago] because the canyon walls on both sides were blocking satellite signals, making it difficult for the drone to get a good lock-on. Homepoints were locking onto river beds below instead of my actual launch point. Secondly, you’d likely be launching from the boardwalks: which in most parts is perhaps 1.5m to 2m wide, with overhanging trees and canyon walls to deal with also. I had to turn obstacle avoidance off and bring the drone down gently each time, avoiding the canyon wall and also boardwalk fencing.
Pictures and a highlight reel of the drone videos taken today!
We’d be leaving Shangri-La county and Yunnan province tomorrow and starting on the long drive to Sichuan province. So, there won’t be much by way of touring itself tomorrow. Continued in the next post!