Stone Forest Kunming

The Stone Forest (Shilin) is one of China's most extraordinary natural landscapes — thousands of sharp grey limestone formations rising from flat terrain 90 kilometres southeast of Kunming, some reaching 30 metres high. The formations were created by the dissolution of limestone over 270 million years. The name is apt: walking through the densest sections feels exactly like navigating a city of stone. The Sani people (a Yi subgroup) have lived around the Stone Forest for centuries; their cultural heritage, including the annual Torch Festival, is intertwined with the landscape.