Mouni Valley

Mouni Valley

Chinese Nama: 牟尼沟（Mou Ni Gou）
Location: 36 kilometres west of Songpan Town, Aba Tibet Prefecture.
Ticket: Entrance ticket for Erdaohai CNY70.00, for Zhaga Waterfall CNY70.00, combo ticket for the two CNY100.00
Estimated tour time: 2-4hours
Recommended time to visit: Whole year
Nearby attractions: Songpan Ancient Town, Huanglong Scenic Spot, Jiuzhai Valley, Fairy Pool.

Around 36 kilometres west of Songpan and 300 kilometres from Chengdu lies Mouni Valley. Located in the Aba Prefecture in Sichuan province, Mouni Valley is home to over 100 lakes and hot springs, some very rare flora and fauna, high-mountain meadows, waterfalls, karst caves, China’s largest stalactites, and much more. With an altitude that reaches from 2000-4000 meters above sea level, Mouni Valley enjoys an alpine environment with alpine scenery and is temperate year-round. The valley stretches over 160 square kilometres, and offers visitors a unique landscape with many Tibetan temples and villages inside. It was once part of the historic Tea-Horse Trail in China.

Muni Valley is a geologic museum of miscellaneous natural landscape formed by the rare karst calcification in high and cold mountain area. Owing to the fact that the travertine sediment deposit in the scenic sport in large in scale and various in shapes, added with later on geologic movements, various kinds of travertine landforms were formed. The landscape of the scenic spot is blended with travertine waterfalls, annular ponds and waterfalls, plateau collapsed solution lakes, stalactites, karst caves, calcification relics, primeval forests, high-mountain meadows, sulfurous springs, rare flora and fauna, Tibetan Buddhism tmples, and unique customs of Tibetan village, and famous for Five Marvels – "waterfall, flower sea, lake, spring and stalactite".

Mouni Valley is consisted of Zhaga Waterfall and Erdaohai Lake. In this scenic area, it has fresh air and enough sunshine. It is very charming as it has features of waterfalls, colorful ponds, grasslands, pools, springs, caves, etc. Moreover, it is also characterized in the strong folk customs. Therefore, it is a place combining the beauty together with the scenic and historic interest areas of Jiuzhaigou Valley and Huanglong.

● Highlights of Mouni Valley

Zhaga Waterfall

The largest travertine waterfall is – Zhaga Waterfall – is the world's tallest travertine stack waterfall, with the height of 104m and width 35.4m. There are lakes upstream and a string of terrace-like riverbeds down stream. Water cascades down the three-level steps, giving out huge water sprays. The thundering waterfall can be heard ten li away. There is a karst cave under the waterfall, with two smaller ones on the sides. The caves seem to be skylights, to which the waterfalls are plunging. What a spectacular view!

Erdaohai Lake

Erdaohai Lake lies at the center of the resort,  It is the biggest lake at this scenic area. There are 26 scenic views, among which forests, lakes, flower seas, hot springs, stalactites and karst caves. There are lots of caves under the button of the lake. Water can flow to each lake through those caves. Although it looks peaceful on the surface, it is very torrential under the buttons. The color of the lakes changes as season’s change at the same time.