Kenting, Lishan style
Lishan possesses rich local knowledge that enables it to fill its map of the Hengchun Peninsula with names unfamiliar to the general public. Daguang, Lide, Sheding, Shuiwaku, Yongjing, Manzhou... each spot features an ecotour and local story with strong ties to the community.
Lishan also stocks its store with wooden carvings that represent the various communities that the company works with. These carvings of clownfish, birds of prey, terrestrial crabs, and Eurasian teals incorporate unique aspects of these communities, and can be pieced together into gift boxes or even lampshades.
Lide Community, represented by a raptor, was once the site of an Aboriginal polity known as Seqalu. It is a place still steeped in Aboriginal culture. It also has a rich ecosystem that includes the large numbers of gray-faced buzzards that pass through every October, and the nearby upper reaches of the Lanren Creek. After talking with Lide residents, Lishan introduced two tours of the area: a raptor-watching tour and a Lanren Creek eco-walk.
The Gangkou Community faces the Pacific Ocean and is home to a grove of weeping figs (Ficus benjamina) made famous by the film The Life of Pi. It is also adjacent to Kenting National Park’s largest river, the Gangkou River, making it an ideal home for its many terrestrial crabs. On a short, two-hour nighttime tour, visitors can see Scandarma lintou, an indigenous tree-climbing crab that was only discovered in 1999, as well as flower crabs (Sesarmops intermedium), hermit crabs, and ornamented pygmy frogs (Microhyla ornata). They can also check out Formosan sika deer, which the Kenting National Park Administration has been breeding for many years, on the Longpan Plain near Shuiwaku Village.
A guide takes visitors across the Yongjing Plain to experience the Gangkou River’s nighttime ecosytem. Local guides from Hengchun’s various communities know all of the area’s points of interest.