Impatiens namchabarwensis
totototo@telus.net (Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:36:22 PDT)
On 18 Aug 08, at 17:16, Lee Poulsen wrote:
This makes me very curious about the climate in that canyon (Tsangpo
Gorge), purportedly the largest/deepest in the world and very recently
(re-)discovered. ["The canyon has a length of about 150 miles as the
gorge bends around Mount Namcha Barwa (7756 m) and cuts its way through
the eastern Himalayan range. Its waters drop from 3,000 m near Pe to
about 300 m at the end of the gorge. "] Sounds like an amazing place to
try visiting one day (if they don't dam it first).
Google Maps can be used to trace out the route of the river using satellite
imagery. The Tsangpo flows from west to east at the north foot of the main
range of the Himalaya. If you can't spot this by eye, use the Google Maps
search box to position yourself on Lhasa, then follow the Kyi-chu river first
west then south and west to its junction with the Tsangpo.
Then follow the Tsangpo east (downstream). It eventually gets into some very
hairy mountainous territory as it does as hairpin loop around the foot of
Namcha Barwa, eventually turning generally southwards and emerging from the
mountains in Assam, where it has the name Brahmaputra.
It's not easy to trace its route around Namcha Barwa but if you zoom in fairly
closely and take your time you can mark out the route.
It helps to have a Google ID so you can create a map with the route of the
river marked.
Frank Kingdon Ward's book "The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges" will shed further
light, as will some other travelogues set in Tibet before WWII.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island