Bitahai lies inside the Pudacuo National Park, about twenty-five kilometres east of Shangri-La, and it is one of two lakes within the park. The setting is high - the lake sits at around 3,500 metres - and the vegetation is a mix of spruce, fir, oak, rhododendron and alpine meadow, with the water held in a basin below wooded ridges. The park was established on a model of low-impact access: vehicles stop at the entrance, and the interior is walked on raised boardwalks, which keeps visitors off the fragile ground and out of the marsh. The result is unusual for China - a large scenic area that is quiet and genuinely protected.
The lake and the marsh
Bitahai is the larger and more famous of the two lakes, with a wooded island in the middle and a ring of boardwalk and paths around part of the shore. The water is clear and dark, reflecting the conifers, and the shoreline is fringed with marsh plants. The second lake, Shudu, is reached on a separate boardwalk through a broad open marsh with grazing pasture around it, where yaks, horses and sheep are grazed in summer. Both lakes freeze in winter, and the park is at its most visited in autumn, when the larch, birch and oak turn.
Wildlife and plants
The park is known for its rhododendrons - several species flower in late spring and early summer - and for a population of the threatened black-necked crane, which uses the marshes. Other wildlife includes musk deer, macaques and a variety of high-altitude birds. The area is part of a larger conservation landscape in the Diqing prefecture that includes the Napa Hai marshland and the forests below the Meili range, and it forms the lowland counterpoint to the snow mountains further west.
Practical notes
Shangri-La is reachable by air and by road from Lijiang, and the park entrance is a short drive east of the city; the park is normally visited as a half or full day from Shangri-La. Altitude above 3,500 metres makes the walking slower than the distances suggest, and arriving without acclimatisation risks altitude illness - take the boardwalk sections at an easy pace. The park charges admission and runs shuttle buses inside. Bring warm and rainproof layers, and note that the marsh boardwalks are sometimes closed in the winter and early spring.
