Xinjiang: Kalajun Human Grassland, Jun 2024

By Beatrice Wong
September 3, 2024
7:30 pm
No Comments

Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (伊犁) in northwestern Xinjiang, lies at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and bounded by Russia and Mongolia to the northeast and Kazakhstan to the west. There is the saying that “If you don’t go to Xinjiang, you don’t know the size of China; if you don’t go to Ili, you don’t know the beauty of Xinjiang.” Historically, Ili was an important outpost of the ancient Silk Road and also known as the “hometown of melons and fruits” due to its warmer weather and abundant rainfall. People come here to experience the vast expanse of the verdant grassland with seas of colorful flowers. One of the most famous grasslands in Ili is Kalajun Prairie (喀拉峻). Kalajun literally translates to “black wilderness” in Kazakh and is rated as a 5A scenic spot as well as one of the “100 Amazing Scenery in Northwest China”. It is a magical place with colorful flowers and sheep dotted on the verdent green carpet with majestic snow mountains in the background. There are also white yurts where the Kazakh nomadic herdsmen live and sometimes host tourists. Kalajun Scenic Area can be divided into five parts, including East Kalajun Grassland, West Kalajun Grassland, Kuokesu Canyon (闊克蘇大峽谷), Middle Heavenly Mountain Snow Peak Scenic Area (中天山雪峰景区), and Tianlai Forest Scenic Area (天籁之林景区). East and West Kalajun Grasslands are the most popular and then Kuokesu Canyon, few visitors venture out to the latter two scenic areas. The East Kalajun Scenic Area is the core scenic area of the whole Kalajun Prairie. It has the richest biodiversity with snowy peaks, forests, and canyons. We were originally going to stay in a wooden hut inside the scenic area but because we had to rush back to Altay, we stayed in Tekes city instead.

Our hotel in Tekes

Our stay at Kalajun Praire was cut short because of the change in the Altay pasture transfer schedule which I covered in my previous blog post. As a result, we only visited the Kuokesu Grand Canyon area. Kuokesu Grand Canyon (闊克蘇大峽谷) was formed over millions of years by the interaction of geological movements together with water from melted snow deposited on the rock layers. There are gorges, flat lakes, and primitive vegetation here. In the middle of Kuokesu Grand Canyon is Crocodile Bay (鳄鱼湾), so named because the mountain here resembles two crocodiles lying at the bottom of the valley. Here you can see steep cliffs and water flowing through the bottom of the valley. On clear days, the river presents 3 colors – milky white, dark green and emerald green. This place reminded me of Horseshoe Bend in Arizona, USA.

Stairs and long walkways lead down to the water. You can’t see the bend until you reach the lowest viewing platform.

The peninsula in the middle is said to resemble two crocodiles lying down but I can only see one….

The main purpose of coming to Kalajun Praire is to photograph the large undulating grassland upstream of the Kuokesu Grand Canyon which locals name “human grassland”. As the name suggests, the lines of the grassland here are like that of the human body.

By the time we arrived, there were already many photographers set up on the viewing platform. Instead, we climbed down and parked ourselves on the grass in front of the platform. The group on the platform had already hired two riders to ride along the bend named “The Beauty’s Back” but the light wasn’t quite right yet. Regardless, this place is surreal and definitely worth a revisit.