Golok is Heaven and Earth

Golok is not the most picturesque part of the Tibetan Plateau. Its landscape cannot compete with the rocky canyons, alpine forests, and swift rivers in other regions, which find their way into wall calendars and photographic albums. However, the Golok highlands also possess some charm. The high, elevated tableland with the soft lines of the grassy hills of Gabde, dotted with distant lights from pastoralists’ houses, is what instantaneously comes to mind when I think of Golok. Martod has a silent air, emerging from the still waters of its famous lakes, Hcharang and Ngorang. The dark peaks of Nyenpo Yurtse rise unexpectedly from the sea of grass in Jigdril. Green valleys around Amnye Machen, with marmots warming their fat bodies in the sun, give an impression of fertility and abundance. The night sky is sprinkled with myriad stars. The sky is big, the land is wide. As people in Golok say: Sa Golok nam Golok. Golok is heaven and earth.

Golok lies at an average altitude of 4100 m. Its highest peaks include Machen Gangri in the Amnye Machen mountains (6282 m) in the north-west and Nyenpo Yurtse (5369 m) in the Bayan Har mountains in the south-east. Bayan Har form the watershed between the Drichu (Yangtze) and Machu (Huang He) or Yellow River basins: Golok forms the basin of the latter. The Machu flows through Golok until Gansu and Sichuan, then makes a turn to the north-west. Thus, Golok is easy to find on every map of the world: locate the sources of the Yellow River and follow it until its northward bend and this is where Golok lies. Entering Golok from the north or the south, one is struck by a sudden change in vegetation. In the foothills of Golok, in Rarja and Bamma, the climate is mild and small-scale land cultivation possible. Although some forests are still to be found around Amnye Machen, the majority of Golok is treeless. It is a kingdom of alpine meadows, with sedges, shrubs, forbs, and grasses.

Golok is large but sparsely populated. The prefecture covers an area of 76,442 km2 and was inhabited, according to the census conducted in 2010, by 181,682 people (2.38 persons per km2).