Nansha Wetland Park makes Nansha the optimal place in which to watch birds in Guangzhou.
The tourist area in the Nansha Wetland Park is located on the west bank of estuary of Pearl River. With 20-years of reclamation and protection, the area maintains the industrial structure of farming and fishing and the land there is in a good natural state, with its ecological environment well looked after under a good protection regime. This land serves as a good habitat for fish, shrimps, crabs and grows lotus roots, banana and sugarcane. The whole area constitutes a beautiful rural picture with pure water, blue sky and verdant trees.
In the 200-square-meter core region of the tourist area, grows vast stretches of ten more varieties of mangrove and reed. For this, many kinds of birds come here for perch and reproduction, making the place a rare paradise for birds in Pearl River Delta.
The visual scenery in the Wetland varies with the seasons. The prettiest landscape in winter is nothing more than mangroves and thousands of migratory birds. When winter comes, tens of thousands silky stanling migrate from the north to live through the winter. Altogether 24 kinds of thousands of birds perch here for food, including the rare platalea minor, platalea leucorodia and black-winged stilt. It attracts various and numerous birds, because it is here they can find food, perch and reproduce.
The Park grows mangroves to maintain an ecological balance, with thousands of mu of reed, marshes have been formed, which with large stretches of ornamental lotus which presents a grand scenery. There is a 25-mile-long river in twists and turns, just like a maze of water. In the park, tourists can appreciate the beautiful scenery of twisted river and reed marshes, stretches of lotus, thousands of birds in the mangroves.
Lotus blooms from March to July and is the prettiest in June and July. September and October are the two optimal months for reed to grow up. When one travels the Wetland by boat, one will go through several areas, first the foraging area of migratory birds, where they can find sea fish, then the lotus area, reed area and last, the mangroves. The whole journey takes 40 minutes. For the sake of the Wetland, traveling by boat is open for five hours on each day, and two to three boats only every time. If you wish to take such a tour, please book it in advance. The telephone is 020-84951083.
There are bikes for rent for the convenience of tourists. But as you can only travel around the park along the edge by bike, boats are recommended, by which you can enjoy landscape in the wetland.
※ Business hours: 9 AM to 6:30 PM in summer; 9 AM to 7 PM in Spring, Autumn and Winter. Be sure to attend the "Wetland Evening Chanting" in which birds chirp to their heart's content. Half an hour before the closing hour, birds returning to their nests create a lot of twittering. Don't stay into the night, or you'll be surrounded by droning mosquitoes.
※ Tickets: There is a cap on the daily number of visitors admitted. During high seasons, it's advisable to make a reservation. Admission is RMB 20 per person for the pedestrian sightseeing area and RMB 120 per person for the sightseeing area and a tour boat ride.
※ Transportation:
(1) You can take Bus No. 1 or 2 after getting off at Jiaomen Station of metro line 4 and get off at Xinken Station (or Baiwan Kuiyuan Station) and then transit Bus No. 11 to tourist area of Nansha Wetland.
(2) Self-driving: The Nansha Wetland Scenic Spot is about 60 kilometers or an hour's drive from the city center. Self-driving visitors may drive along the Nansha Port Expressway and exit at the 16th Creek Steel Base, and then follow the road signs to the destination.
