Wanderings in the wild, wild west

The Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve in Qinghai province is the country's most biologically diverse area. It's home to many species, including the Tibetan antelope. [Photo provided to China Daily]

It makes sense in retrospect. They live underground in Hoh Xil because elevations jut above the tree line.

A branch-top abode isn't an accommodation option that high up.

One year, I saw a wolf.

It exploded as a flash of fur in our headlights as it blasted across the road.

My ethnic Tibetan friends tell me sightings are auspicious.

That's the local folklore.

But the predators pose practical problems for the nomads. They prey on herders' sheep.

A nomad I stayed with this summer told me about the time he went to chase a wolf away from his flock. He ended up running in the other direction.

It wasn't a wolf.

It was a bear.