The high-altitude grasslands surrounding Ganzi are among the defining landscapes of the eastern Tibetan plateau. Between spring and autumn, Tibetan nomadic families move across this terrain with their yak herds in patterns largely unchanged for centuries. From the road approaching Ganzi, and especially from the hills above town, you can see this world in context — a vast open plateau ringed by snow peaks, with black yak-hair tents visible across the grassland.
Horse riding into the grasslands is available from Ganzi, typically arranged through guesthouses. A half-day ride takes you well beyond the valley floor into genuinely open terrain, and a full-day or overnight trip into the surrounding hills provides an experience of the plateau that no vehicle journey can replicate. The Tibetan nomads you encounter are generally hospitable, and the opportunity to drink butter tea and eat tsampa in a tent on the plateau is one that most travellers remember long after the sights of the town itself have faded.