Bendy bamboo may not be the safest nesting place, but at least this youngster won’t end up at someone’s dinner. These chicks have just had a meal delivered by their mom, quite a challenge for little beaks. Providing their colonies are protective, wading birds like egrets are among the few wild creatures which benefit directly from intensive rice cultivation.

 

Growing rice needs lots of water, but even in the rainy south there are landscapes where water is surprisingly scarce. This vast area of southwest China, the size of France and Spain combined, is famous for its clusters of conical hills like giant upturned egg cartons separated by dry, empty valleys. This is the karst, a limestone terrain which has become the defining image of southern China. Karst landscapes are often studded with rocky outcrops, forcing local farmers to cultivate tiny fields. The people who live here are among the poorest in China.

 

In neighboring Yunnan Province, limestone rocks have taken over entirely. This is the famous Stone Forest, the product of countless years of erosion, producing a maze of deep gullies and sharp-edged pinnacles. Limestone has a strange property that it dissolves in rainwater. Over many thousands of years water has corroded its way deep into the heart of the bedrock itself. This natural wonder is a famous tourist spot, receiving close to 2 million visitors each year. The Chinese are fond of curiously shaped rocks, and many have been given fanciful names. No prizes for guessing what this one is called.

 

But there’s more to this landscape than meets the eye. China has literally thousands of mysterious caverns, concealed beneath the visible landscape of the karst. Much of this hidden world has never been seen by human eyes and is only just now being explored.

 

For a growing band of intrepid young Chinese explorers, caves represent the ultimate adventure. Exploring a cave is like taking a journey through time, a journey which endless raindrops will have followed over countless centuries. Fed by countless drips and trickles, the subterranean river carves ever deeper into the rock.