Tiger Pond Gorge

Tiger Pond Gorge

Tiger Pond is located in a mysterious and rarely visited grand canyon within the foothills of the Dayaoshan Mountain Range in Jinxiu, Guangxi. The Dishui River, which originates from Shengtang Mountain, the main peak of the Dayaoshan Mountains, cuts through rocky cliffs, traverses dense forests, and crosses over the Dayaoshan barrier as it flows toward the central plains of Guangxi. Tiger Pond lies hidden at the very end of this mysterious canyon. The water in Tiger Pond is clear and azure, appearing bottomless; the stone walls on both sides of the pond are steep and rise hundreds of meters high—when you look up, you can only see a dazzling “white line.” The Tiger Pond Gorge stretches 16 kilometers in total, with an average gradient of ten percent. The narrowest point of the riverbed in the gorge is just a few meters wide, while the widest spans 20 meters. There are no mosquitoes or wild animals in the gorge, and century-old dead trees lie on the riverbanks, making them perfect fuel for campfires. Tiger Pond is enclosed on all sides, enveloped in silence, where the sound of water droplets falling from the rock walls into the pond can be heard distinctly. It is said that if you shout loudly in Tiger Pond, massive rocks will immediately collapse from above. The falling rocks create a deafening thunderous noise, and the pond water boils violently. Though seemingly superstitious, there is some reasoning behind it: the steep cliffs on either side of Tiger Pond, having endured thousands of years of immense pressure and weathering, have become extremely fragile. When someone shouts, the sound waves reverberate and amplify within the canyon, causing loose rocks to shake and fall, potentially triggering disaster.

At the heart of Tiger Pond Gorge, the noisy river water seems reluctant to disturb the sleeping tiger resting in the pond, flowing quietly and slowly through a stone archway and moving onward. Drifting in a bamboo raft and gently pushing with a pole, you slowly enter the stone gate. The light suddenly dims, and it takes a while before you can gradually make out the surroundings. Looking up, the sky has narrowed into a white line, giving the illusion of being deep inside a profound crevice in the earth. The long pond, stretching hundreds of meters, holds still water that flows quietly. In some sections, there is not a single sound—extremely serene, as if all things around have ceased to exist. In other spots, droplets trickle down, and due to varying elevations and distances, the water produces lofty, deep, crisp, and mellow sounds that blend with echoes to form a delightful melody, enchanting and mesmerizing. Several mountain vines as thick as bowls hang from the rock walls not far above the water’s surface. When the mountain breeze blows, the vines sway, resembling a dragon nodding and wagging its tail. The reflections in the shimmering, clear ripples dance gracefully around the bamboo raft, sometimes gathering, sometimes scattering, as if welcoming visitors from afar.

After passing through the labyrinth-like Tiger Pond, what lies ahead is like a paradise on earth. It is a haven teeming with flora and fauna. Solid bamboo densely crowds the riverbanks, while cottonwood, slate wood, white bean fir, fragrant wood, podocarpus, Fujian cypress, and various species of azaleas cover the mountain cliffs. Unknown wildflowers bloom in rotation throughout the seasons, clustered and scattered in the crevices between rocks.