Guide: Nick Buys
Below is a short mammal trip report from our June 2026 China tour. This was predominantly a mammal and birding tour, but we ensured that we spent at least one night in Labahe Nature Reserve, Tangjiahe Nature Reserve, and on the Tibetan Plateau to search for mammals. Some of the highlights included Tibetan Fox, Asian Black Bear, Red Panda, Tibetan Gazelle, Northern Hog Badger, Golden Snub-nosed Monkey, and Mainland Leopard Cat.
Our trip started in Chengdu, where we spent a couple of days looking for pheasants and other fantastic birds endemic to this part of the world. This was not an area where we focused on mammals, but we still found Pallas’s Squirrel and Perny’s Long-nosed Squirrel. While visiting the bird hides, we enjoyed brilliant views of Temminck’s Tragopan, Himalayan Monal, Sichuan Partridge, Lady Amherst’s Pheasant, Silver Pheasant, Chinese Bamboo Partridge, and Red-billed Leiothrix, to mention just a few.
Our next stop was Wawu Mountain, and although we had only one morning here, we had an incredible close-up encounter with a Red Panda, as well as Swinhoe’s Striped Squirrel. Tibetan Macaque was the other new mammal seen here. From a birding point of view, this area is excellent for Parrotbills, Golden Bush-Robin, Black-faced Laughingthrush, Golden-breasted Fulvetta, Emei Shan Liocichla, and Chinese Babax.
From here we made our way to Labahe Nature Reserve, where, due to our short itinerary, we had only one night, so we had to make the best use of our time. During our afternoon and evening drives, we found Sambar (very common around the hotel), Red-and-white Giant Flying Squirrel, Mainland Leopard Cat, Masked Palm Civet, Pearson’s Horseshoe Bat, and Confucian White-bellied Rat. A visit to the high mountain passes produced Gansu Pika, Glover’s Pika, and Himalayan Marmot at three different locations. Some great birds seen here included Tibetan Snowcock, Snow Partridge, Snow Pigeon, Grandala, White Eared Pheasant, Blue Eared Pheasant, and Chinese Chestnut-throated Monal-Partridge.
We then headed up to the Tibetan Plateau, where we had only two nights, with just one available for a night drive due to our late arrival. This is an excellent area for mammals, and we found Tibetan Fox, Red Fox, Tibetan Gazelle, Plateau Pika, Himalayan Marmot, Woolly Hare, Sika Deer, and Eastern Roe Deer without too much effort. Some searching was required, but we enjoyed two excellent sightings of Blue Sheep and Tufted Deer.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time to search for Chinese Mountain Cat, and more time in this area would have given us a very good chance of finding this species, as well as Grey Wolf. Bird highlights included Blood Pheasant, Ring-necked Pheasant, Sichuan Tit, Saker Falcon, Tibetan Lark, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, and the monotypic Przevalski’s Pinktail.
Our final stop on this trip was Tangjiahe Nature Reserve, where we again had only one night and would have loved to have had more time. Even so, we enjoyed excellent sightings of two separate Asian Black Bears, Malayan Porcupine, Chinese Goral, Reeve’s Muntjac, Northern Hog Badger, Masked Palm Civet, Pere David’s Rock Squirrel, Tibetan Macaque, Eurasian Wild Pig, and Mainland Leopard Cat.
We made one final stop to look for Golden Snub-nosed Monkey and spent a wonderful hour watching these beautiful primates.
All in all, it was not a bad result for a relatively short trip that focused on both mammals and birds. If you are planning a mammal trip to Sichuan, we would strongly recommend spending at least two nights each at Labahe Nature Reserve and Tangjiahe Nature Reserve. We are planning a longer, more comprehensive China Mammal Tour for 2028 that will target Snow Leopard and Pallas’s Cat, with a separate extension to search for Giant Panda.
A separate birding trip report will be posted on www.naturetravelbirding.com for those interested.
