The Namjagbarwa Peak amid cloud

Namjagbarwa is a cloud-touching peak. In Tibetan it means "spear piercing into the sky" and has been transliterated as Namjagbarwa.

The Namjagbarwa Peak is always too shy to come out from the clouds. The legends say two brothers were assigned to guard the southeastern area of Tibet. They were immortals and the elder brother's name was Namjagbarwa, while his younger brother's name was Gyalabele. Gyalabele was stronger and smarter, so Namjagbarwa was very jealous, which led him tokill his brother - he cut off the head of his kinsman. Both of them turned into mountains afterwards. For this reason the top of Gyalabele is round, and the elder brother –Namjagbarwa – is very regretful of his crime and feels ashamed of being seen by others.

The rolling clouds always veil the mountain as if Namjagbarwa Peak is a myth or fantasy, and this adds to the mystery of Namjagbarwa. According to the local Tibetans only sincere people can see the scenery of Namjagbarwa. There were British explorers who spent a month at the mountain's base in the hope of seeing its scenery, but they waited for a month in vain.

The Namjagbarwa Peak

The white and streaming clouds always envelop the snow-capped mountaintop of Namjagbarwa. Once in a while the sharply defined triangular peak of the Namjagbarwa may be exposed to view, but almost immediately the mountain is shyly hidden again. The local Tibetans regard Namjagbarwa as the Road to Heaven. They believe that when clouds flow around the top, it is the immortals climbing the mountain to get up to Heaven.

Surrounded by clouds and mists, hugged by the river and valleys, and clustered around by forest, Namjagbarwa is appraised as the most beautiful mountain in China.

Located at Nyingchi area in the southeastern part of China's Tibet, Namjagbarwa is the fifteenth highest peak in the world, with a height of 25,531 feet (7,782 meters) above sea level. From the top down to the bottom, in a linear distance of 6,562 feet (2 kilometers), scenes on the Namjagbarwa vary from snowy winter to evergreen spring.

On the top, snow persists throughout the year. Beneath the snow-line there are dark green alpine plants, whileclumps of bushes begin to appear further down. Mauve azaleas in full bloom and pink primroses adorn the mountainside and large tracts of tall firs form a sturdy taiga forest.

At the lower edge of the taiga forest, you can see trees with larger leaves.Here also the forests become denser. Bananas, chrysalidocarpus and other tropical plants sway their huge leaves in the wind. The atmosphere is full of the characteristic muggy air of tropical rain forests.

How magical Namjagbarwa is! Because of the great altitude, so many varied sights can be seen together in one picture as if brought together by some magician. No wonder Namjagbarwa is often called a natural museum of mountain vegetation in the world.

The Namjagbarwa Peak