The Stone Forest and Lunan County

Just two hours east of Kunming is the best-known excursion of them all----the Stone Forest. A natural rockery of stones and pillars, eroded by time into arresting shapes, crammed  into an 80-hectare plot in Lunan County, the Stone Forest (Shilin) draws thousands of visitors a day. It is one of the most famous scenic attractions of Southwest China, and hence one of the most organised. Five kilometres of pathways have been constructed, maps of the park come with the ticket purchase, guides in colourful Sani costume are everywhere, as are the handicrafts markets, numerous guest houses flank the park entrance area, while an upgrade hotel lies within the park boundaries, and Sani dance troupes perform nightly. The place can get awful1y congested at times, particularly from late morning to mid-afternoon. And while the viewing pavilions are perhaps in evitable, the Chinese characters painted on some of the rocks, as well as the plethora of concession stands, do detract from ordinary appreciation.

Yet some places are popular tourist destinations because they are inherently beautiful and deserving of the attention. The Stone Forest is not always packed with tourists, for they almost all make it a day trip out of Kunming. Even if they stay overnight they usually like to be back at the hotel for dinner long before dark. Thus to enjoy the walk and be able to marvel in peace and quiet at the grotesquely shaped pillars, one need only take the walks in early morning or in the last couple of hours before sunset, which is the time the light is richest anyway.

The geologic upheaval that created the Stone Forest some 270 million years ago did not leave it on level ground, and the pathways both wind in and out of the groups of pillars as well as up and down between them. Nor did all the water seep away. Besides the lake near the entrance, the park contains three small bodies of water within its perimetres: Lion Pond and Lotus Pond near the entrance and Sword Peak Pond further inside. The latter is easily the most picturesque, with Lotus Peak rising behind it. This pillar is supposed to resemble a lotus flower, while other strangely shaped rocks have been given names by imaginative travellers in past centuries, who fancied their resemblance to living phenomena. Thus the stroller searches out and passes by stones dubbed Rhinoceros Looking at the Moon, Woman Waiting for Her Husband, Camel Riding an Elephant, and the anthropomorphic pilla in the adjoining Little Stone Forest named after the tragic Sani heroine Ashima.

The Stone Forest is the best, and most concentrated, example of the type of landscape phenomenon that permeates Lunan County's rolling hills. Smaller clusters of pillars, stone groves so to speak, pop up across the land, while limestone boulders litter the red-soiled farmlands. Another major collection of them lies 15 km north of Shilin, beside Cloud Lake and across the Bajiang River. Because the pillars here are darker, it is known as the Black Stone Forest (Naigu Shilin). It is less built up, but also full of suggestive shapes. More such stones line parts of the shoreline of Oblong Lake (Changhu), 24 km southeast of Lunan. Local Sani like to picnic.here. The county's other lake-Moon Lake (Yuehu)-lies 10 km southwest of the turn-off to Naigu Shilin. Secluded and peaceful, it is, however, only accessible from one shore, whereas Changhu can be easily circumambulated.

Southwest of the county seat, 10 km south to Banqiao, then 13 km west, the Bajiang River tumbles over a 30 metre-wide cliff to fall 96 metres at the spot called Dadieshui. It is Yunnan's highest and can be approached by paths leading to the pool at the base of the fall. Crossing the stream, one can ascend the steep hill opposite and sit on a ledge that puts one on a level with the top of the cataract, for a wholly different perspective.

Besides the fantastic landscape aboveground, erosion was equally busy creating scenery beneath the earth's surface in the limestone caves on the approach to Shilin. For the most part these are more like grottoes, with routes entering one end and exiting another. Those parts featuring attractive stalactites, stalagmites shaped like animals, plants, etc. are all illuminated with multi-coloured lights.

A finer group of karst caves, some 65 in all, lies at Jiuxiang, 45 km north of Yiliang, the county seat just west of Lunan. Perhaps the most impressive is Jiuxiangrongdong Cave. From its entrance at Terrestrial Gate the visitor peers down 120 metres to the cavern floor. A subterranean waterfall inside drops 30 metres. As in Lunan's caves the weirdest shapes of stone and the most striking stalactites are lit by coloured lamps. The entire Jiuxiang area has several scenic walks in its hills. Visitors can also take a boat ride 600 metres through a shady gorge. Hui and Yi reside in the villages and the area really comes alive the first three days of the 2nd lunar month, when the Yi stage their Hunter's Guardian Festival.