Zac in NC

I would If I had the extra dough laying around. Its hard enough just getting the time to hit Mexico.

Zac

mrbungalow

51st State, I have been watching this thread closely. Maybe this would be something for me. I love bananas, and a good adventure! Also, the same areas are home to some trachycarpus species wich would also be great to collect seeds of. Living in England, do you by any chance know anyone of indian heritage who might speak indian? That would definately be a big help on such a trip.

Erlend

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51st state

Hi Erlend

I thought you might be interested.

The best thing about having an empire is that we made everyone speak English.
I travelled extensively in the western Himalaya in 2004 and had no language problems.
The only area where there is likely to be any dificulty is Arunachal Pradesh as the border with China (Tibet) is disputed, but permits can be obtained. This is the least explored area, which also borders Myanmar (Burma)

I will PM you at the weekend with a bit more detail.

Kev

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Zac in NC

I too thought about this. I know Joe K in New Jersey had talked a year or so ago about this same general idea. Iknow there are lots of plants I'd love to see, and not just bananas and palms, but aroids and Rhododendrons and Oaks. I'm a huge plant nerd......

Zac

tony palmer

Hi Kev,
I thought I would give this thread a kick start again have you made any plans to go to North East India.?

marksbananas

I would love to go but i cant this year i would be up for it if something ws happening next year, it would be wicked finding new bananas and also would be brilliant to see them growing in there natural habitat.

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Just Bananas about Bananas

51st state

Hi tony
no firm plans, but still well up for it. have a few species on my menu

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Tropicallvr

Would the fall be the best time to see them in bloom, after summer rains? Maybe even get to collect some seeds.

51st state

i think so. i went in early september last time. after the monsoon (which is just miserable) and before it gets too cold (and belive me it does at higher elevations)
Its a big country, but top of my list is Sikkim (Bhutan) Aranachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Orissa and the Khasia Hills (a big list I know)

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tony palmer

Hi Kev,
I’m home alone at the mo my wife is working in Andra pradesh Hyderabad for two weeks, that got me thinking about your post on North east India, but to be honest I don’t know to much about that area you are interested in, but I have wanted to visit Yunnan particularly the Kunming institute of botany, they have a excellent botanical garden and that can save you a lot of leg work when looking for hardy bananas, the areas I’m looking at in Yunnan are Gaoligongshan that borders Myanmar and Xishuangbanna that borders northern Laos, there both about 12 hours drive from Kunming, you can get a cheap return flight from London to Kunming for around £500 so that’s not to bad but then there’s the 3-4 week stay there and car hire, I’m looking into it and if the total cost isn’t to high I’m going to go next September, that’s when the fruit of hardy bananas ripen there, if it’s a go I’ll give you a bell to see if your interested! here is a bit about Gaoligongshan, The Reserve lies in the central subtropical zone. Due to its location in southwest monsoon zone of the Indian Ocean, wind often blows from the west. The high peaks and deep valleys of the Mountains have created in this mountain area three different climate zones, namely, subtropical, temperate and cold temperate. From the foot of the mountain to its top there are concretely 6 different types namely south subtropical, mid subtropical, north subtropical, warm temperate, mid temperate, and cold temperate zones. The precipitation increases gradually from 736.7 millimeters on the east slope with an elevation of 755 meters, 1,763 millimeters on the west slope with an elevation of 1,440 meters to 3,904.4 millimeters at the top with an elevation of 3,210 meters. This constitutes a unique multi-level climate and an entire subtropical ecosystem resulting in its strikingly splendid landscape of biological and climate vertical belts, which leaves people an impression, that different section of the mountains is in different season even on the same day.


Tony