Beihai Wetland, 12 kilometres north of Tengchong, occupies a natural depression formed by a volcanic lava dam around 600,000 years ago. The result is the only lava barrier marsh in southwest China, and it functions as an important migratory bird staging area in winter, attracting cranes, ducks, and waders in numbers that make the wetland genuinely worth visiting between November and March.
The park includes areas of open water, reedy marsh, and the famous floating bog sections where the vegetation mat bounces under your weight. Boardwalks allow access to the more fragile sections. The surrounding hills are pine-forested volcanic slopes, and on clear days the overall landscape — still water, green marsh, and mountain backdrop — is genuinely beautiful. Local Yi and Nu villages sit at the park margins, and the agricultural land between the wetland and Tengchong grows rice in the wetter months, creating a varied cultural landscape around the natural core.