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The
Tibetan Plateau, located in southwestern China, is arrestingly majestic
when approached by land or air from any direction. Landlocked on all sides
by imposing mountain ranges, the plateau itself is filled with fertile
grasslands, incredible gorges, and the headwaters of some of the world's
greatest rivers. The southern border, which separates Tibet from the Indian
subcontinent is made up by the Himalaya Mountains which extend more than
15, 000 miles from the Karakorum mountains in the northwest to Mount Namchak
Barwa in the southeast. Many of the world's highest summits are within
this range, including Jomolangma (Mount Everest -- 8,848m) and numerous
other peaks that top 7,000 meters. The northern border includes the Kunlun
Mountains, the Altyn Tagh, and the Chole Namgyel (Qilian) Ranges, and
separates the Plateau from the deserts of central asia. These tremendous barriers crouch protectively about the plateau which hangs hammocked amongst the peaks at an average altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level and rolls out to cover 2.3 million square kilometers. The Plateau is historically divided into three regions: the Utsang, Kham, and Amdo. The Utsang, the southwestern division of the Tibetan Plateau, contains the headwaters and river basin of the Brahmaputra River, as well as Mount Kailash, Mount Everest, numerous other sacred mountains and lakes, and the valley which cradles Lhasa, the capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Kham, the southeastern division, is a highly mountainous region, with sacred peaks such as Kawakharpo, and Minyak Kangri, as well as the grasslands surrounding numerous major river basins. Amdo, in the northeast, is filled with fertile rolling grasslands, salt lakes, the Yellow River Basin, and the huge snowcapped peaks of the Amnyemachen Range. Throughout the Plateau, there is a great diversity of terrain, which ranges from rocky heights, to high desert, to rolling grasslands, to deep river gorges, to forested valleys, to alpine meadows, and includes countless snow mountain peaks, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, and caves, all just waiting to be explored. |
