Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The eighth and newest national park in Taiwan,
Taijiang
(Táijiāng Guójiā Gōngyuán;
www.tjnp.gov.tw
)
covers a patchwork of coastal lands north of Anping Harbour (see the
website for a map of the areas included). The almost 50 sq km of land and 340 sq km of
sea include tidal flats, lagoons, mangrove swamps and wetlands that are critical habitats
for rare fish, crustaceans, mammal and bird species, including the endangered black-
faced spoonbill.
Taijiang covers an area dear to the hearts of Taiwanese, as it was here that their ancest-
ors first landed after the dangerous crossing of the Black Ditch (the Taiwan Strait). Once
a giant inland sea, Taijiang silted up during the 18th century, facilitating the development
of local salt and fish-farming industries. These days only the fish farms remain active.
Cycling is possible in Taijiang, as the land is flat, the climate is sunny year-round and
parts of the new bike trail have been completed.
Sights & Activities
You can take a boat ride through the mangrove swamps and further out to the estuary of
the Yenshui River from a pier close to the
Sihcao Dazhong Temple
(Sìcǎo Dàzhòng
Miào). A 30-minute ride through the
Mangrove Green Tunnel
(Hóng Shùlín Lùsè
Sùidào) is NT$150 while the 70-minute ride that goes out to larger channels and into the
mouth of the Yenshui River is NT$200. Boats leave when full, so on most weekdays you
will be waiting a long time.
Bus 10 (NT$36, every hour) from Tainan runs out to the temple daily while the tourist
bus 99 (NT$18, every 30 minutes) runs from 9am to 5.15pm on weekends. You can take
bikes on the buses.
Taiwan Eco Tours (
Click here
)
offers kayaking through the mangroves.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Black-Faced Spoonbill Reserve
This
reserve
(Yěshēng Dòngwù Bǎohùqū; 06-786 1000; Cigu Township)
is a small section of
wetlands on the west coast of Tainan that's dedicated to protecting the extremely rare
black-faced spoonbill. The bird spends summers (May to September) in Korea and north-
ern China and migrates to Tainan for the winter. Once down to just a few hundred indi-
viduals, numbers are now over a thousand, though this is still a tiny population and the
species' future is by no means assured.
