Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges

The Tsangpo Gorge in south-east Tibet is the world's deepest. Through it twists the Yarlong Tsangpo, Tibet's great river, emerging far below on the plains of India. This is the story of its exploration and the flora and fauna found there.

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Little explored and virtually inaccessible, the Tsangpo Gorge in south-east Tibet is the world's deepest gorge. Through it twists the Yarlong Tsangpo, Tibet's great river, emerging from below on the plains of India. This is the story of its exploration and the rich plant and animal life found there. Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges, first published in 1926, is the fascinating account of plant-hunter and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward's most important expedition. Kenneth Cox, Kenneth Storm, Jr. and Ian Baker have spent the last ten years retracing the route of the 1924-25 expedition and have managed to reach further into this magical and only partly explored land. The book contains the original Kingdon Ward text and extensive additional material including a history of the exploration, geography and religious significance of the area and more than 250 colour photographs with detailed captions on the plants of the area, most of which are described by Kingdon Ward in the original text. This new second edition contains a new chapter which brings the story up to date. It covers the floods of 2000 which washed away swathes of the inner gorge, and the Chinese declaring the area a National Park.
There are first person accounts of expeditions to the area - including their most recent trip in 2002 - by Kenneth Cox and Kenneth Storm. Jr. and a photographic essay documents for the first time in a book the 'new' Hidden Falls located in the portion of the gorge left unexplored by Frank Kingdon Ward and Lord Cawdor in 1924.