Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
185 heading south, turn left just past the Km40 mark, heading towards the hills and Jiap-
ing Village (Jiāpíng Cūn), also known as Taiwu Village.
One kilometre up the hill, stop at the police station to apply for mountain permits.
From then on, consult a good map.
GREAT MIGRATIONS
With 39 species representing seven families, Kenting National Park has the highest
diversity of land crabs in the world. The crustaceans that leave their solitary bur-
rows in the inland areas for the coast, normally between August and October, are
driven by a clear purpose: to breed and spawn.
You can easily spot them between Sail Rock and Eluanbi on Hwy 26 during the
spawning season and, needless to say, crushed crabs are a common sight. The
park now closes parts of the road in the evenings when the spawning season is at
its peak (usually during the Mid-Autumn Festival, ie the full moon in September or
October) and volunteers are recruited to help escort the crabs cross the highway.
During other times, drive slowly to help protect this declining population.
Twitchers will be happy to know that during the land-crab migration, they can
see hawks take off en masse at dawn.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Jin-Shui Ying Old Trail
This Qing-dynasty road (Jìnshuǐ Yín Gǔ Dào) once started at Fangliao and crossed the
entire southern part of the island. Today it still covers about half of the island and takes a
full six hours of downhill walking to reach the end of the trail near Dawu on the east
coast. Along the way you pass the remains of a Qing-dynasty army camp, a nature pre-
serve and a rich butterfly valley near the suspension bridge at the end of the trail.
The trail begins in the mountains east of Fangliao and runs along a jungle that receives
the second-highest rainfall in Taiwan. You have a good chance of spotting local wildlife
en route, including the Formosan macaque, the Reeves' muntjac, wild boar, wild pan-
golin and over 80 species of birds.
The last section of trail after the suspension bridge is washed out and it's a bit tricky to
navigate the new paths over the ridge and onto the back roads to Dawu. Only during the
winter months you can walk the last 5km stretch along the dry bed of the Dawu River, al-
most 1km across at this point.
To hike the trail you need a police permit and your own transport.
