Hello, white-headed langur

In the first half of last year, we have photographed many wild animals in China, including langurs, Yunnan golden monkeys, Tibetan chief monkeys, macaques, white-cheeked gibbons, bee monkeys and other primates. Most of them are national first-class or second-class protected animals.

When looking for the next destination and theme, Guangxi Chongzuo attracted us, and the primary reason was the white-headed langur. There are many kinds of monkeys, and the status of the white-headed langur is very high, which is embodied in:

The only national first-class protected animal in China;

Narrow distribution, only living in the karst landform of Chongzuo, Guangxi;

The number is rare, less than that of giant pandas, belonging to the extremely dangerous level (the third endangered level, and then extinction in the wild, extinction, giant pandas are currently in a vulnerable and low level).

White-headed langur is a unique primate in China and Guangxi, and the only primate discovered and named by China scholars. At present, it is only distributed in the karst rocky mountainous area of about 200 square kilometers in Chongzuo City, Guangxi. At present, there are no living and specimens of white-headed langurs abroad. Because the fertility rate of the white-headed langur is too low, it takes several years to give birth to one, so it puts itself in danger. In the 1980s, the number of white-headed langurs once dropped to more than 80. After the protection work of relevant departments, it has now exceeded 1200.

It is unique in China, small in quantity and beautiful. So, at the first stop of the Year of the Ox, we went straight to Chongzuo. Arrive at Nanning, the first stop, and go straight to the white-headed langur reserve.

The first meeting gave us a great surprise.

I entered the park at 3: 30 and followed the battery car around. There were no monkeys. The nature guide (who also drives a battery car) suggests that you go back to the visitor center to rest first and come back later. At this time, monkeys are more active. We won't give up. Come down. We'll find it ourselves. As a result, in a few minutes, I saw a group of people at the junction of the canopy and the cliff.

White-headed langurs are actually very small and difficult to find on cliffs or in distant bushes. Fortunately, there is a tuft of white hair on their heads, and the movement of leaves gives us some hints.

There are many monkeys, at least twenty. Besides, there are two little golden silk monkeys! Langurs have a special phenomenon. Newborn monkeys are all golden, and it is not until half a year later that they gradually become black and white of adult langurs.

According to the introduction of the nature guide and our experience in observing wild animals for many years, we stayed by a pond at the foot of the mountain nearby, hoping that they would come down and drink water at night. Sure enough, the monkeys have been parked in the direction of the pond, and they are going downhill. By 5 o'clock, they basically gathered a little above the pond.

After that, they came to the pond to drink water one after another, and two of them were holding golden monkeys. They put the golden monkey in the bushes and then came to the pond to drink water.

To everyone's surprise, after drinking the water, they walked leisurely through our crowd, through cement roads and sugar cane fields, came to the opposite Thumb Mountain and began to have dinner on the treetops. It all happened so suddenly that everyone was stunned. I didn't even react to make a video.

I was going to make a proofing for the first time and figure out the direction. Unexpectedly, it was such a big surprise.

The second time was on the morning of the 29th of New Year's Day. I rushed to open the door at 8 o'clock to see the monkey. But this time, perhaps because of the morning, I saw a large group of monkeys eating on a high cliff, so I took a video for a while.

After three in-depth tours and filming, Jerry and I both lamented that this may be the most suitable nature reserve for tourists in China.

I stayed in China for half a year and visited many national nature reserves. In recent years, the nature protection work in China has been significantly improved, and the protection of many species has made remarkable progress, and the number of species has been restored or increased. There are many excellent protected areas. Why the White-headed langur reserve may be the most suitable nature reserve for tourists in China?

The nature reserves in China are divided into three parts: core area, buffer area and experimental area. Among them, tourists are not allowed to enter the core area and buffer area. Therefore, although we often see that XX Nature Reserve is rich in animal and plant resources, there is one thing and another. But in fact, it is invisible to tourists. Not all experimental areas have been built for tourists to visit. After driving Baidu to find a protected area for n times, we found a trick. However, if you can find information about collecting tickets on Ctrip, there will really be tourists traveling there. Otherwise, it is actually an open area, and nothing can be found.

The place where we saw the white-headed langur belongs to the ecological tourism area of Guangxi Chongzuo white-headed langur national nature reserve (Banli area), with an area of about 1 15.5 hectares. In other words, this part is specially for tourists. There are magnificent tourist centers and regular ticketing centers here. One ticket to 80 yuan (free for people over 60 years old), including tickets, battery cars and binoculars. It's about 0.5 hour's drive from Nanning/KLOC-0, half an hour's drive from Chongzuo downtown and 0.5 hour's drive from Shi Ming Garden/KLOC-0, which is basically high-speed and very convenient.

Best of all, the white-headed langurs here are completely wild and have not been artificially fed. For example, in the famous Tacheng Yunnan Golden Monkey National Park, pineapples are fed to Yunnan Golden Monkey every day. But the white-headed langurs here don't need artificial feeding at all. We learn about the food of the white-headed langur through an area called the food source botanical garden. There must be many plants they like to eat here. So, this is a real protected area, not a zoo. The monkeys we see in the pure wild state are not dull and have no rigid behavior. They fly over the eaves and walk over the walls, and they laugh and play. When we watched it, there was no fence and no power grid.

Miraculously, just across the road from this tourist area, there are exactly the same landforms and exactly the same plants, but monkeys just can't get through. There is no fence in the whole tourist area. According to Xu Ge, an expert in the park, the male monkeys who lost in the battle for the Monkey King occasionally lost to the opposite hill, and after a while, they still have to come back. So far, no scientist has found the answer.

For tourists, it takes a lot of effort to come from afar and spend tickets. What they want most, of course, is to see monkeys. Then this place won't let you down. We've been here three times and seen it all three times.

In the nature reserve, we met many left-wing children and locals. They have never seen a white-headed langur. I believe the wonderful experience I saw with my own eyes will leave a deep impression on them. Through their photos and videos, through WeChat and Tik Tok, more people know about the white-headed langur.

Basically, except for extreme weather conditions such as heavy rain and monkeys' inactivity in the morning and evening, tourists can see monkeys under the guidance of tour guides, and perhaps discover other monkeys by themselves through telescopes, which is very fulfilling.

Through the introduction of Ge, the total number of white-headed langurs is 1200+ at present, and it is 485+4 in the eco-tourism area (4 are newly born four golden monkeys this year), which is not as high as more than 500 in the basin. But the scope of the basin is too large, and often you may not see a monkey for a month. You can see it almost every day here. Several groups are particularly courageous and basically stay near the tourist center. After the tourists arrive at the tourist area, they can see the monkeys through the battery car or take a little level road (cement level road). Therefore, the tourist area for tourists will eventually be located here. There will be another hotel here in the future.

But I wonder why the guests here are so civilized that they don't feed the monkeys or get close to them. Or Xu Ge's introduction. On the one hand, when buying tickets, tourists will be repeatedly told not to feed the monkeys and not to affect them. There is a big notice at the ticket window, and the conductor will say it again and again. Secondly, there are all kinds of introduction cards and tips in the park. Third, this is amazing, supervising guests with modern high technology. There are many high-definition cameras in the park, one for monitoring monkeys and the other for watching tourists. And it's not just a probe. Now all kinds of evidence can be counted.

Recently, there was a violation case: a white-headed langur was very courageous and came to drink water near the plank road. A tourist took a video with his mobile phone near the pond. The monkey actually took the initiative to reach out and touch the phone. At this time, the tourists forgot what they couldn't touch and were still filming. This is a photo taken by a tourist in the back and posted in Tik Tok. Later, the tourist was found in the reserve and fined 2000 yuan.

Therefore, nowadays tourists are more and more aware of how to live in harmony with wild animals. Monkeys are not so afraid of people. If they dare to cross us, I will be suddenly enlightened.

Speaking of monitoring, the protected area is now broadcast live on the central video APP for 24 hours. If you want to see the white-headed langur, you can open the APP and search for the white-headed langur. Sometimes it is a nearby drinking point, sometimes it is a resting cliff, and sometimes it is the crown of their fighting. More than 654.38+0 million people have watched it.

Brother Xu, who has been talking for so long, also said that eco-tourism is a win-win situation. Because the monkey took a fancy to this residence, the state expropriated the land of Xu Ge and other local villagers and paid them the fees. Xu Ge and his five brothers, a * * * has 50 mu of land within the scope of the reserve. Monkeys live and work in peace and contentment here, while Xu Ge and his family find jobs as nature guides, battery car drivers and ticket sellers. In the nature park, and have a stable income. Therefore, for local villagers, there is no need to preach, they all know to protect these monkeys.

It can be seen that Xu Ge and others really love monkeys. Besides being very willing to share the story of the monkey with us (most of what I wrote came from communicating with him), what moved me more was their support for us tourists and photographers. The closing time of the reserve is 6 pm. However, we went there twice in the afternoon, both of which exceeded this time. Because it is still dark at 6 o'clock, the monkey is on his way to midnight and can take a wonderful scene. Jerry is very forgetful. I'll go back to the visitor center first. After all, it's the New Year, and everyone wants to go home from work early. So I'm worried about seeing the smelly faces of the staff. But what I didn't expect was that Brother Xu didn't rush us at all, let us shoot enough, and specially drove the battery car to pick us up.

When we left, we joked with Brother Xu. We donated tickets to the tourist area three times in a row this week. Brother Xu answered us seriously. He is considering implementing monthly or annual tickets to meet the needs of our photographers and wildlife lovers.

Therefore, this time Chongzuo saw the white-headed langur three times in a row. Jerry not only took many wonderful photos and videos, but also let us feel the operation of an excellent nature reserve tourism ecological zone.

Welcome to Chongzuo to see the white-headed langur!