Theos-Talk Archives (January 1999 Message tt00080)

Chicago Tribune reported yesterday:
===========================================
TIBET DISCOVERY A
REAL-LIFE SHANGRI-LA

                                                  By Michael Kilian
                                                  Washington Bureau
                                                  January 8, 1999

                                                  WASHINGTON --
Explorers have finally found
                                                  Shangri-La.

                                                  It may not be quite
the storied, verdant, utopian
                                                  Himalayan paradise of
James Hilton's 1933
                                                  novel "Lost Horizon"
and subsequent movies of
                                                  the same name.

                                                  But it is verdant, it
is a kind of paradise, and it is
                                                  hidden deep within
Tibet's Himalayan Mountains
                                                  in a monstrously steep
gorge within a gorge.
                                                  There is no record of
any human visiting or even
                                                  seeing the area
before.

                                                  Tucked beneath a
mountain spur at a sharp
                                                  bend of the Tsangpo
River, where the cliffsides
                                                  are only 75 yards
apart and cast perpetual
                                                  shadows, the place
failed to show up even on
                                                  satellite surveillance
photographs of the area.

                                                  "If there is a
Shangri-La, this is it," said Rebecca
                                                  Martin, director of
the National Geographic
                                                  Society's Expeditions
Board, which sponsored
                                                  the trek. "This is a
pretty startling
                                                  discovery--especially
in a time when many
                                                  people are saying,
`What's left to discover?' "

                                                  Tentatively named the
Hidden Falls of the
                                                  Tsangpo by the
explorers and located in a
                                                  forbidding region
called Pemako that Tibetans
                                                  consider highly
sacred, the elusive site was
                                                  reached by American
explorers Ian Baker, Ken
                                                  Storm Jr. and Brian
Harvey late last year, though
                                                  the society did not
make its confirmation of their
                                                  success official until
Thursday.

                                                  In addition to a
spectacular 100-foot-high
                                                  waterfall--long
rumored but until now
                                                  undocumented--they
found a subtropical
                                                  garden, between
23,000-foot and 26,000-foot
                                                  mountains, at the
bottom of a 4,000-foot-high
                                                  cliff.

                                                  According to Martin,
it's the world's deepest
                                                  mountain gorge.

                                                  "It's a place teeming
with life," said Storm in a
                                                  telephone interview
from his office in the
                                                  Minneapolis suburb of
Burnsville. "It's a terribly
                                                  wild river, with many
small waterfalls, heavy
                                                  rapids and a
tremendous current surging
                                                  through. Yet there are
all kinds of
                                                  flora--subtropical
pine, rhododendrons, craggy
                                                  fir and hemlock and
spruce on the hillsides--it's
                                                  lush. Just a
tremendous wild garden
                                                  landscape."

                                                  The animals there
include a rare, horned
                                                  creature called the
takin, sacred to Tibetan
                                                  Buddhists.


For the whole article go to:
www.chicagotribune.com
select: search and type: shangri la

Martin Leiderman