Zanda County

Zanda County Overview

Chinese Name: 札达县 English IPA: Zhada Xian Location: Located in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region Population (city): 10,000 Language: Tibetan Language Zip code: Tel code: Time zone:

Zanda county in the Ngari Prefecture is located to the extreme southwest of Tibet Autonomous Region. Animal husbandry and agriculture is well developed in this county. Zanda, means “the place where there are grass in the lower reaches of river” in Tibetan language. This peculiar and mystic physiognomy densely covers the whole Zanda County. In the county, there are Tholing Monastery and Guge Kingdom you could visit by the way. 

Zanda Highlights

● Zanda Earth Forest

Zanda Earth Forest is located along the river of Langqen Zangbo, Zanda County in Ali. It has been viewed as the most typical and largest tertiary strata earth forest in the world with the total area of 2,464 square kilometers. It was classified as National Geological Park in 2007. 

● The Sutlej River

The Sutlej River is the mother river of Zanda, which originates from the foot of Mount Kailash, and flows out of the country from the west of Zanda County. The river composed of 18 rivers is 450 kilometers long. It get the name because of that the source of the river seems just like the trunk of the elephant.

● Guge Kingdom: One of the first important cultural relic sites under protection, the grand palace ruins stand on a 300-meter tall yellow earth hill on the banks of the Xiangquang River in the Zaborang District at about 18 km away from the Zada County. The Xiangquang River runs northwest from the Lake Manasarovar. The river valley is broad with the fertile earth . Rising abruptly from the river bank, the ruins add much mystery to this area. 

● Tholing Monastery is the oldest monastery in the Nagri Prefecture. It is situated in Tholing, Zanda County, at an altitude of 3,800 meters above sea level. It was built in 997 AD by Yeshe-O, the second King of the Guge Kingdom. In Tibetan language, Tholing means “hovering in the sky forever”. The complex includes 3 temples, the Yeshe-O Temple, the Lhakhang Karpo and the Dukhang. There are many ancient precious and well preserved frescoes. 

Other Destinations in Zanda County

    Zanda County Attractions

    There are many attractive and marvelous attractions in Zanda County. Here we list some attractive highlights in Zanda County for visitors to have a reference, including: the Sutlej River, Zanda Earth Forest, Guge Kingdom, Tholing Monastery and so on. Zanda Earth Forest Zanda Earth Forest is located along the river of Langqen Zangbo, Zanda County in Ali. It has been viewed as the most typical and largest tertiary strata earth forest in the world with the total area of 2,464 square kilometers. It was classified as [...]

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    Zanda County Tours

    Ngari tour is one of the most attractive tours in Tibet, which can provide tourists stunning and amazing views in Tibet. It couldn’t be better to travel to Zanda County in Tibet. We provide some types of tour packages for visitors to Zanda County. Here, we recommend and arrange some efficient and suitable tour routes and tour packages in Zanda County, and even in the whole Tibet for the travelers to have a better trip and comfortable service. Here we list some attractive highlights in Zanda County for visitors [...]

    Climate & When to Go

    Zanda County belongs to the sub frigid arid climate zone of the plateau. It is cold in winter and cool in summer with the thin air and strong wind. The annual sunshine time is about 3,000 hours with the precipitation of about 200 mm and the frost period of 130 days. Due to the rather bad climate here, there are some natural disasters mainly including the drought, the snow disaster, the hail, the mountain flood, low temperature freezing and so [...]

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    Transportation

    Travel to Zanda County, visitors would better start from SHiquan River taking a taxi for about CNY 2000 about 12 hours for convenience, but it’s too expensive. The Shiquan River has a shuttle bus to Zanda, which is normally start at noon every day, but less likely to cancel, the ticket price is 220 ~ 260 yuan, which can be negotiated. [...]

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    Festivals and Activities

    Mulangqinmu (kind of great prayer festival) In January in Tibet year, there will be a great prayer festival or ceremony holding in Tholing Monastery (also called Mulangqinmu). At that time, besides the lamas in the monastery or nearby villages, lamas from the other 25 branch monasteries will also come to attend the great ceremony. During the 20 days’ ceremony, the villagers or other attendees except the lama will give the monastery lots of food in charity, such as zanba (an Tibetan [...]

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    Travel Tips

    1. The appropriate time to visit Zanda County is July to September which is out of the rainy season. Rains could ruin the road from Lhasa and Yecheng (which is in Xinjiang) to Ngari. It is sometimes the rainy season as early as in May in the Yecheng-part of the Xinjiang-Tibet highway. The conditions of the roads from Shiquanhe Town to the counties in Ngari Prefecture are not good. Since the Xinjiang-Tibet highway will be blocked by snow during winter [...]

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    Useful Maps

    To give the visitors a better trip in Zanda County, we list some related maps about the county, including Zanda County Maps, Zanda County Tourist Maps, Zanda County Map, and Zanda County Location Map. [...]

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    Zanda County Accommodation

    There are dozes of hotels and hostels in Zanda County, so it will be very convenient for visitors to have a accommodation in Zanda County with a comfortable environment and a cheap cost. Here we list some of the hotels in Zanda County for visitors to have a reference. Zanda Earth Forest Castle Hotel(札达土林城堡酒店): Located in the east side of Zanda County Government, near Zanda Earth Forest Scenic Spot, Zanda Chongqing Hotel(札达重庆宾馆): Located in No. 10 Hebei Road, Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, [...]

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