Xeric Shrublands & Deserts

We left Ranipauwa (elevation : 3700m) at 08:30, shortly after we finished our honey pancakes and tibetan bread with jam. The mist had lifted slightly by then, but despite all the posters that were scattered around the town advertising the Yartung festival that was supposed to have begun that morning, the town was still sleepy and there was really not much going on. From the start, the town had felt too touristy and a little too large for my liking: the roads were wide yet still

The group set off at 08:30 the next morning, heading Northwards and crossing the river back and forth by hopping across rock fields. On one occasion (approximately 2 kilometres in), we had to trackback a little and rock hop across to a small peninsular in the middle of the river. The bush became very dense here and we were forced to bush bash for a while trying to find a point where the rocks continued to the other side, allowing us to cross. We then entered a grassy area that

The group had decided to split into two groups of two to tackle this particular section of the gorge - one group was to continue along the Z-Bend section of the gorge with floatpacks (as there was no way to continue walking along the ledges along this section), whereas the other group was to walk to the next food drop and rejoin the other two at 4-Ways. I decided to take the 'dry route' and head inland predominantly because of all the sensitive electronic equipment that I was

It was a beautiful morning when we broke camp, with clear skies, and an absolutely still, mirror-like river. It felt a little chilly at first since the river still lay deep in the gorge's shadow, but I didn't really notice it too much with the delightful twittering and the chirping of the birds that surrounded me. The Sun left the gorge basking in its warm radiance as it rose higher in the sky, dispelling any chills that still remained. This soft, almost lateral sunlight helped to accentuate the shapes of the

We set off at 09:10 that morning and quickly found that we were forced to backtrack a little in order to cross the river, as the riverbank up ahead proved to be impassable. The backtrack was just a short walk along the sandy bank, and with a little rock hopping, we safely found ourselves on the other side. We discovered that a lot of the River Red Gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) on this side of the bank had large dug-up holes, some as deep as half a metre, scattered around

It must have rained throughout the night as the air felt moisture-laden as we packed up camp that morning. After a while, the sun peaked out from the clouds and the warm rays seemed to sweep away any residue of the lingering morning dew that was left. It didn't take long for the remaining clouds to dissipate, leaving a clear azure sky in their wake, perfectly reflected in the mirror-like water of the still river. We set off at 08:20, continuing Northwards on our way along the