Dead Zone Naringrad Gorge

The Naringrad Gorge on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is quite unfamiliar to many people, but it is well-known in the exploration world. It can almost be compared with the "Death Valley" in the Soviet Union, the "Death Valley" in the United States, and the "Death Cave" on the Indonesian island of Java. It is a veritable place of horror. Locals say that there is a man-eating monster in the canyon, on the grounds that daring or lost herdsmen enter the valley, but most of them never return. After heavy rains, people often see a large number of wild animals in the valley throwing their corpses into the wilderness, and the corpses are accompanied by scorched earth. All kinds of strange phenomena make the Naringrad Gorge appear mysterious and unusual, so that for many years it has become a "death zone" that people dare not easily set foot in.

Raptor vulture eagle killed

The Narengler Gorge is located in the Kunlun Mountains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It starts from Brentai, Qinghai in the east, and reaches Shashan in the west. It is 105 kilometers long, about 33 kilometers wide, and 3,200-4,000 meters above sea level. In the south of the valley, there is the main Kunlun ridge directly into the sky, and in the north, the Qilian Snow Mountains block the Qaidam Basin. We first start from Xining to Golmud, and then go straight to Brentai on the western edge of the Qaidam Basin. Going west from here, it originates from the Narengler River Valley on the Kunlun Mountains more than 6,000 meters high. The canyon we want to explore is in the middle and upper reaches of the Narengler River.

The off-road vehicle traveled through the winding mountain road. The fields are vast, and the sleek snow-capped mountains float quietly in the distant sky like silver caps. The vast plateau is full of a pristine and desolate atmosphere of the polar regions, all of which can not help but make people feel an inexplicable loneliness. Suddenly, on the wilderness with sparse sand wormwood in front of the left, a group of dark animals appeared. They were like deer but not deer, donkeys but not donkeys, and they ran extremely fast. When I approached, I found that their hair was dark brown, their tails were short, and their ears were pointed, which looked elegant and elegant. "Wild donkey!" The driver and the people in the car cheered.

When we entered the Naringrad Gorge, the weather was fine, the winter sun hung in the blue sky, and the fields were gorgeous. Perhaps because of the rarity of people, there are many kinds of wild animals here. Tibetan antelopes, foxes, wild yaks, snow rabbits, etc. appear from time to time, which is a genuine "animal kingdom". During the noon break, we found a vulture eagle, which was one meter long. The front half of the body had tan feathers, and the back half was dark brown. Standing motionless on a hanging boulder, it looked very scary. According to his companions, the vulture eagle is a bird of prey on the plateau. It often perches on the top of high mountains and cliffs. It has a very strong flying ability, especially when it dives down and attacks, the speed is astonishingly fast! Its vision is keen and ferocious. Once it finds prey, whether it is wild ducks in the water, Tibetan antelopes and wild deer running on land, or cunning foxes or even poisonous snakes, it will dive down like arrows and use steel hooks. The claws are like claws, and they are firmly captured.

Xiao Wang, who worked in the Qinghai Geological Team, told me that he had witnessed such a scene in this area a few years ago: a snow rabbit was running east and west in the wilderness, avoiding the fox's pursuit at a very fast speed. The eagle found it soaring high in the air. It straightened its neck and legs in the air, spread its big claws, and swooped down to pounce on the hare, which was too frightened to run again. The wild fox took the lead and was about to catch the rabbit. Unexpectedly, the vulture eagle passed by. At this time, instead of fighting for the hare with its opponent, it suddenly stretched out its sharp claws and grabbed the fox sharply. Then the strong wings fluttered and took off, catching the fox in the air, and the prey struggled desperately. At this time, the vulture eagle loosened its claws, and the fox fell from the sky, and immediately fell to his death, becoming a delicious meal for birds of prey.

We saw a spectacular scene of vulture eagles hunting wolves in the Naringrad Gorge, but this time the birds of prey were far from so lucky. That day, a wolf emerged from the bushes, with blood on its nose and mouth, and it seemed that it had just eaten a small animal. The wolf was running in the low dry grass, looking very "proud". Suddenly, a hovering vulture eagle appeared in the air. At that time, the companion said, "Guys, pay attention, there will be a good show in a while!" We hurriedly stopped to observe the wolf. The vulture eagle's way of hunting wolves is usually to grab the wolf's butt with its sharp left claw, and the sharp edge of the claw is pierced into the gap between its bones. This kind of severe pain is unbearable for wolves and other beasts, and it must instinctively turn around and turn its head to bite. At this time, the vulture eagle will not miss the opportunity to stretch out its right paw, slammed it between the wolf's ears, skimmed the top of its forehead, and grabbed the wolf's eyes like lightning. Then, with a force of its wings, the blind wolf was lifted up, and its hooves were lifted off the ground, and the strength of its prey was completely lost. At this time, the two sharp claws of the vulture eagle suddenly pouted towards the middle, and the wolf's waist was broken. This is the vulture eagle's hunting "unique trick".

Unexpectedly, this time there was an accident. When the wolf was pounced, perhaps because of excessive panic or unbearable pain, the ferocious fellow ran desperately all the way without looking back. The vulture's wings flapped violently behind it, setting off a patch of snowflakes and gravel. The wolf finally got into a shrub with dense branches. Although the branches made it uncomfortable, the injured prey had long forgotten the pain and was still digging in like crazy. The vulture eagle was miserable. One of its sharp claws hurriedly grabbed the branch of a short tree. This may be the instinct of birds. It wanted to use this as a support to fly quickly, but it made a fatal mistake. Because its other paw was still "locked" in the wolf's body and could not be pulled out, the result can be imagined, its body was torn in half at once...

By the time we got to the front, the wolf had already escaped without a trace, the bushes were full of messy feathers that had been torn off, and the bird of prey was even more bloody. Seeing this tragic scene, you can't help but sigh at the cruelty of animal survival in nature.

The next day, a few antelopes appeared in the wilderness, and for some reason these same species fought fiercely. Unfortunately, when we got close to observe, we were discovered by these clever animals, and they quickly fled. A male antelope lay motionless in a pool of blood, probably seriously wounded or killed. We were about to go over to see what happened when we heard the sound of "goo, goo" in the air. When we looked up, we saw a few goshawks circling overhead. Maybe they had already eyed the male antelope that fell to the ground, and their companion picked up a stone and hit it, and another companion hurriedly stopped it. He said that if such a big guy died, he would definitely attract eagles, wolves, etc. This is called the "food chain". Besides, eagles cannot be driven away, they will only gather more and more. Don't provoke them, or you will be in trouble! As soon as we walked out of the thirty or forty meters, the group of hungry eagles pounced on the male antelope, tearing and pecking, and the flesh and blood flew for a while. Maybe in a few minutes, the antelope would turn into a pile of bones. Thinking about these fierce "subjects" in Nalengele Gorge, one can't help but stand on end!

Mysterious Canyon opens bloody mouth

According to research, the Narengler Gorge is a closed mountain basin formed by crustal changes at the end of the Tertiary period. It is surrounded by a mid-to-alpine barrier composed of purple red rock, sandstone, etc. The snow-capped mountains are majestic and colorful, and the lakes and rivers splash and ripple. According to local guide Balsan, in summer the valley is rich in water and plants, birds and flowers are fragrant, and the scenery is very beautiful and spectacular. But over the years, few people have dared to come in. Local herdsmen sometimes prefer to let sheep go hungry than let them run into the valley to graze. Because of ancestral tradition, Naringrad Gorge is a place where demons haunt, and people can never get out as long as they walk in. Others say that there is a kind of giant beast in the valley that gathers here all year round and eats people and various beasts.

Young people do not believe in this evil, but some bold people break in, and most of them never return. Some herdsmen lost their way and strayed into the depths of the canyon, and suffered the same fate. What's more, after the rainstorm, a strange phenomenon will happen here: the hillsides and valleys are full of corpses of antelopes, wild donkeys, foxes and many birds, and there are some yellow dead grass and scorched earth beside the corpses. It seems that an invisible fire scorched all this, and the scene was appalling. This phenomenon is not accidental, and this tragedy repeats itself after almost every rainstorm. Therefore, this area has become a terrifying "death zone", and some people simply call it "man-eating valley" and "death valley".

In fact, there are many parts of the world like this "Valley of Death". For example, there is a "Death Valley" on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia that is 2 kilometers long and 300 meters wide. Many animals and birds such as bears and wolverines will die as soon as they enter the valley. Scientists have analyzed that there may be a variety of toxic minerals or harmful gases in the valley; California, USA also has a "Death Valley", which is 225 kilometers long and 6 kilometers to 26 kilometers wide, covering an area of more than 1,400 square kilometers. The cliffs on both sides of the canyon are very treacherous. In 1949, an exploration team looking for gold got lost and set foot in it, almost all of them were killed. Even if someone escapes and climbs out, they will die mysteriously soon after. Even some explorers have not been spared after entering. The cause of death of these people has not yet been found out. Later, after investigation, scientists also discovered a puzzling mystery: this hellish "Death Valley" is actually a "blissful world" for birds and beasts. There are more than 200 species of birds, 19 species of snakes and more than 1,500 wild donkeys in the valley, but they live leisurely. To this day, people still don't understand the reason; there are 6 huge "death holes" on the Indonesian island of Java, the situation is similar, and scientists have not been able to solve the mystery.

So what is the reason for the various "death" phenomena in the Naringrad Gorge in Qinghai? When we set off that morning, we had been arguing endlessly. Two hours later, we were observing some rocks in a valley when suddenly a batch of instruments were inexplicably nearly "paralyzed"!

When the "explorers" saw the scene in front of them, their faces turned pale in shock. Could it be that there is really some devil here?

It was later learned that this is a strong magnetic field area. In May 1998, the geological department organized personnel to conduct a large-scale investigation here, and the results measured that the peak value of the magnetic field here was as high as 1000-3000 gamma, which was huge enough to cause the compass to fail and the instrument to be inaccurate. During the investigation, we found that in the strata here, in addition to the ferromagnetic basalt with large-scale volcanic eruptions, there are also magnetite veins and quartz diorite bodies. It is these rock bodies and magnetite that have produced this powerful geomagnetic anomaly belt.

So, why does a large number of animals always die after every rainstorm in the Naringrad Gorge? Some people say that the canyon is actually a lightning strike area. The humid air is blocked by the main ridge of the Kunlun Mountains, and often collects into the valley along the mountain ridge, forming a thunder cloud, which carries a large amount of electric charges in the air to form a strong electric field. When encountering foreign objects, a tip discharge, or "lightning strike", will occur, causing the instant death of humans and animals. Although this is convincing, it is still a scientific speculation. As long as the state authority does not make a conclusion, I am afraid that no one can tell the real reason for the formation of this "Death Valley". Perhaps when it was not raining, this mysterious Naringrad Gorge would still open its "bloody mouth"!

It is not without basis to say this. Relevant information introduction: This is one of the distribution areas of permafrost in my country. The thickness of the permafrost layer is as high as hundreds of meters, forming a huge underground solid ice bank. When summer comes, the upper permafrost near the surface melts, forming underground diving and underground rivers. Just because the surface is often covered by green deep grass, it is not easy for people to find it. When people and animals stray in, once the grass ground collapses, the underground river will pull people and animals into the bottomless abyss, and even make them drift away with the current, so that even the corpse capital cannot be found. The reason why most of the local herdsmen strayed into the valley may be here.

Dangerous situation at camp late at night

The sun is falling more and more, the orange rays have no heat, and the ancient wasteland of the Kunlun Mountains is coated with a layer of bright gold dust, which makes it more majestic and desolate. Because the car cannot drive into the valley, we have been walking on foot these days, and we are carrying a lot of things on our backs, so it is very laborious to investigate. In the evening, we chose a sheltered place to set up a small tent, even if there was a so-called "camp". Then everyone took out beef jerky and canned food, etc., and began to devour to replenish the energy needed in the body. Everyone knows that in this desolate area with high cold, lack of oxygen, and low temperature at night, unexpected troubles or even dangers may be encountered at any time, so timely recovery of physical strength is also the first need for survival.

The night in the snow-capped mountains was surprisingly quiet, but the temperature was getting colder and colder, making it difficult for people to fall asleep. Around 1:00 in the morning, a slight rustling sound suddenly came from outside, as if someone was quietly crawling towards this side. Xiao Wang, who is experienced in the wild, was taken aback and sat up to observe into the darkness. I saw a faint cloud of black in the distance ahead, and at the same time a green fluorescent light was flashing. "There are wolves!" Xiao Wang exclaimed, and everyone hurriedly dressed, and then took out the Tibetan knives and other weapons they were carrying. The level of tension was almost like an enemy!

The plateau wolf is famous for its ferocity. It not only hunts small animals with mild temperament such as pheasants and snow rabbits, but sometimes when the wolves encounter a single snow leopard known as the "Snow Mountain Overlord", they will pounce on it without hesitation and start a fight. In the end, they rely on the "Wolf Sea Tactics" to defeat the weak and the strong to eat this beast. These guys are not only greedy, ferocious, but also extremely cunning. After they find their prey, they will concentrate on chasing after them at the lightest and fastest speed, and they have been chasing the prey to exhaustion, and then pounce on it from behind and bite off the opponent's neck. If you encounter a strong man such as a bear who weighs 200 to 300 kilograms, you will only die in vain. When the opponent counterattacks, the wolves are around the bear, sometimes jumping, sometimes running, and making unpredictable attacks. Sometimes one wolf bites the other and doesn't let go, and the other wolf will attack from different directions, cleverly using the "stealth method". Therefore, in the eyes of the bear, two wolves are like many wolves attacking. Although the bear tried his best to break free, he couldn't care less, and was eventually eaten by wolves. Therefore, these wild wolves are very difficult to deal with. Even after the dangerous situation in the camp, several of our big men were so shocked that they had goosebumps all over their bodies, and it seemed that even the roots of their hair stood up.

Suddenly, a howl of "oh-oh" came from the wilderness. The voice was shrill and spread far away from the ground. According to zoologists, the kingdom of wolves is still a matrilineal society, and the female wolf is more appealing than the male wolf. Male wolves and female wolves howl differently. The former is a long howl up to the sky, while the latter is a short howl with their heads lowered; the effect is also different. Male wolves mostly pursue the opposite sex, while female wolves call for the help of wolves. Sure enough, the effort was not great, and many wolves seemed to have emerged from the ground, and the camp was immediately filled with greedy green light.

"Quick, light a fire!" I don't know who shouted in the panic. Everyone hurriedly carried the firewood they brought to the entrance of the tent, and a roaring campfire was raised. The flames were beating in the dark, very eye-catching, and the wolves really stopped moving forward. But a few minutes later, there were many shadows turning around the camp, but after tossing for a while, it gradually subsided. It is estimated that the wolves have withdrawn. But after such tossing, the few of us no longer have the heart to sleep. Some simply sat by the campfire and smoked, while others took out frozen meat and roasted it on the fire, all worried that the wolves would make a comeback.

Although several of us are adventure enthusiasts, in fact, Lao Yang is the only one who has really fought against wolves. The old Yang Kan talked about it when the fire was roasting. He said that he was in the Heilongjiang Youth Reclamation Team at that time. One night he was driving a tractor to work. Suddenly, the hungry wolves developed a strong interest in this behemoth., and soon surrounded the "iron bull" into a semicircle, they were not afraid of the roar and lights of the tractor at all. At this moment, a male wolf took advantage of the moment he changed gears and rushed over from the oblique thorn and onto the nose of the plane. Lao Yang hurriedly turned the locomotive 180 degrees in place, but unexpectedly the wolf would maintain his balance, twisting his body with the shaking of the body, like a samba dance. Then it grabbed the exhaust pipe with its front paws, and he drove it several times without shaking it off. Lao Yang was a little panicked, and hurriedly pulled the accelerator to the end, making the temperature of the exhaust pipe rise higher and higher. The male wolf finally let go of his front paws because he couldn't bear the scorch. At this time, Lao Yang took the opportunity to slam on the brakes, the male wolf was thrown out, and the tractor immediately ran over it. Old Yang Gang breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that the wolves would retreat, but the wolves swarmed up, completely ignoring their compatriots, vying to bite the dead wolf. The wolf's skull was bitten open, and the brain was eaten up.

After eating, the leading she-wolf had a section of white intestines hanging from her mouth, and she whined and summoned her companions to continue besieging Lao Yang. Lao Yang was furious, put on the fifth gear and ran over the she-wolf. The wolf dodged left and right, and turned around to tease him a few times from time to time, but he was not afraid. When crossing a dirt slope, Lao Yang's hand accidentally touched the hydraulic landing rod of the plow shovel, the plow shovel fell suddenly, and the engine went out after a few bumps. Unable to allow him to restart the locomotive, the wolves surrounded him at once, some climbed on the front of the locomotive and slammed their heads against the cab glass; some wolves bit the reflector and were pierced by the glass ballast to the point of bleeding. Lao Yang grabbed the screwdriver to find an opportunity to fight back. In this way, he was besieged by the wolves for several hours, and it was not until the tractor delivering oil arrived at dawn that the wolves dispersed.

The moon quietly climbed out of the clouds, and the green-melted brilliance filled this mysterious and terrifying canyon, and the surroundings seemed very peaceful and peaceful. Fear drove away fatigue, so we kept talking by the fire until dawn. Although we were very economical, the firewood on our backs was still burnt. Thankfully, the second half of the night was safe and sound. The harassment of the wolves only left a false alarm.

On the way back, we couldn't stop sighing: the "content" of the Naringrad Gorge is too rich! Although the investigation in just a few days is far from uncovering the layers of mystery on her face, we believe that it will not be long before this place will become a "hot spot" area for Chinese people to explore, and even a "virgin land" for tourism. Maybe by then, people can gradually see her stunning beauty.