Tawu Mountain Nature Reserve: rugged, remote and wide open

In the past, permits were required to enter the reserve, but strangely, none are needed today, with the result being that jeeps and other 4X4 vehicles now make their way up the dry section of the Taimali riverbed with impunity. Just how far one can drive back, I am not certain, as I only made it about two hours in on my motorbike due to the rugged terrain.

Unlike the Chihben (知本) Gorge, which is much narrower and cut with numerous waterfalls, the Taimali valley is wide and almost desolate in appearance. Loggers respect the trees, but do hunters revere the wildlife here? Certainly, there is nobody on guard anymore to deter poaching, and a Google search turns up many discouraging stories, one of which calls Tawu Mountain Nature Reserve “a private hunting ground.”

To really get up in the reserve and have any chance of seeing its wildlife, one needs a large, multi-terrain vehicle, such as a jeep 4X4. These vehicles have knocked over the signs proclaiming the official status of the area, but the paths are by now so well entrenched in the dry riverbed that one would be doing very little harm by following in on them. With a jeep, you could go in for miles and miles and find yourself on the brink of terra incognita.

From there, an expedition could be launched, up into the highest mountains and down into the folds of unnamed drainages and river valleys (some of which can be espied if you take the train from Kaohsiung to Taitung in the afternoon), and if you posted up quietly by a stream night after night with your camera ready, keeping still with your ears open, you just might witness a Formosan Clouded Leopard creep down to the water, sniff the air, take a cautious look around, and lick up an evening refreshment from a gurgling mountain brook.

That expedition, however, is for another time. Until then, I will continue to scan the Internet and the newspapers in hopes of seeing a report about the most mysterious of all big cats – the Clouded Leopard. If anyone sees one, please e-mail me at:

gregmccann1@yahoo.com

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